With Earth Day approaching on April 22, it’s a day when the community comes together through engaging activities to raise awareness and demonstrate support for the environment.
“Clean-ups provide a tangible way for residents to come together and work toward a common objective,” said JAR Co store manager Maci Libby. “Seeing the positive impact of a clean-up brings pride and develops a sense of belonging.”
Through its clean-up activity, JAR Co. strives to lead by example by prioritizing environmental sustainability and making small changes with hopes of leaving a lasting impact.
“We hope to foster social bonds, encourage participation, promote environmental awareness, and increase a sense of pride in our community,” said Libby.
Community engagement supports both short and long-term efforts to protect the environment in addition to providing an opportunity for individuals with a passion for the outdoors to come together and get younger members of the community excited about Earth Day.
This year Windham Primary School had a team of First Grade classes reach out to EcoMaine and coordinated a visit from them to the school to talk about the importance of caring for our planet and discuss with students the differences between recyclables and trash. Later this spring, WPS First Grade teacher Crystal Turner plans to take her students on a nature walk on the trails behind the school to enjoy the beautiful nature that surrounds us.
Engaging in new and unique activities assists in growing the interest to learn. After a previous clean-up around Windham Primary last year, students were eager to take part in the project again this year.
Through reading stories like “If Polar Bears Disappeared” and “Give Bees a Chance,” WPS Second Grade teacher Evanthia Daukopulos said that she strives to encourage and foster the love of all living and breathing things. In her classroom, plants and animals are talked about, prompting discussions about activities students can complete in the community and best practices at home to reduce, reuse, and recycle. On Earth Day, students will talk about what it means to make compost, how greenhouse gases warm the planet and how this affects our ecosystems.
“We have discussions around the idea "it only takes one person,” said Daukopulos. “The idea here is it takes one person to spread the message, practice the steps, and prolong our communities. Then that one person gives another person the knowledge and resources to combat climate change, then soon, many ‘one’ of us, becomes a whole community.”
She said there is much positivity to be seen in how students want to learn and want to help protect this extraordinary planet we call home as they explore the effects of just one location or population, and how that then in turn affects other populations from around the world.
Earth Day is a day to raise global awareness on environmental issues while bringing the community together to make changes through opportunities to learn about and appreciate our planet, Daukopulos said. <
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