Earth Day in Sacramento

Hey there Midtowners and Sactowners,

We saw many of our Gridsters out at Sac State. The crowd was twice as a large as last year despite the threat of rain which never materialized. It was a beautiful day to celebrate our Earth.

Red Tent Belly Dance had two troupes dancing on the grassy stage. Verbatim strutted its pirate hula dances which can be seen again this Saturday at the L Street Lofts Party on 18th Street. ABD Capoeira displayed their Brazilian martial arts skills in a traditional joda. Sacramento’s legendary Mick Martin and the Bluesrockers broke it down for all of us.

A tremendous number of activists from a wide variety of organizations spread their words. Green Sacramento, Wildflower, and Greenbuilt Construction showed off their wares. Although the line felt neverending, Massa-Peal Catering’s raw food booth was energetic and impressive, from vegan lemon and chocolate cheesecake to julienned vegetable sushi rolls, live foods ran amuck at this year’s Earth Day.

Congratulations to ECOS for putting on a great event. We can’t wait to see how it’s reinvented for next year. Midtowngrid brought out tons of prizes from The Grid as donations to Earth Day’s event raffle and the prizewinners will be listed by Tuesday night.

Hope to see you this Saturday at the L Street Lofts Party on 18th Street.

Last week we asked the following related to Eart Day and here are some of the responses we got:

How have you been engaged in the environmental issues that we currently face?

yes, just about every time i see an article or See something on the news i am intrigued by the mass destruction this could cause.

I do recycle and use organic products as much as possible. I am an animal rights activist which is not so much environmental as humane, but it is my passion.

I work as an environmental engineer and I’m working on my PhD in the subject at UC Davis. In addition to studying how to improve water quality of the rivers and lakes we frequent, I make daily decisions to improve the quality of the environment. These include buying locally grown produce as
often as possible, walking or biking whenever I can, saying no to bottled water, minimizing energy use, and paying SMUD to use green energy.

Not much really. I’m not a big environmentalist. I do love recycling including passing on clothes. I hate waste! In my home I switched a long time ago to flourescent compact bulbs wherever possible and always buy energy star products; I dry most clothes without a dryer and only wash full loads of clothes or dishes.

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

I’m going to the farmers market of course.

I used to teach school and I would take the kids on a walk through a park and river next to the school. We would read Johnny Appleseed. I also have a movie about recycling “Recycle Rex” that the class would watch at the end of the day. Since I do not teach any longer, I will be planting vegetables in my yard.

By continuing with my current practices, and encouraging others to do the same.

I won’t. We live on this earth so every day is earth day. I always celebrate it by appreciating what it gives to mankind especially its God-given beauty.