You’re invited to celebrate Earth Day on April 22 by doing something beneficial for the planet. While COVID-19 might keep us from gathering for a park clean up or donating items to reuse stores or charities because of current business closures, there is still plenty you can do:
- Clean up your yard of trash and debris, especially those items that were covered under the snow all winter.
- Start your spring yard work and clean up yard waste. The Elk River Compost Site is open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. to all Sherburne County residents with an access pass. A variety of material is accepted at the site, and while compost site passes cannot be issued in-person at this time, requests for passes can be made by calling 763-635-1120 and sent out via mail.
- Take a trash bag along on a walk and clean up litter and debris - remember to practice social distancing.
- Get ready for gardening! Warm weather is (hopefully) just around the corner. Get your yard and garden ready for plants later this spring. Perhaps even consider planting a vegetable garden this year with these helpful tips from the University of Minnesota.
- Reuse paper and cardboard in your home to make craft projects with kids. Reuse is always a great idea, maybe even try making paper out of recycled paper! There are lots of resources online to guide you through this fun project.
- Learn more about weather patterns and how the atmosphere affects our climate from the National Weather Service.
There are a number of virtual Earth Day events happening online as well including the San Diego Zoo’s Virtual Earth Day Celebration where animal-lovers can watch live cameras and become citizen scientists by tracking animal behavior, as well as NASA’s Science Live on Earth Day to hear experts talk about technological improvements to the environment.
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