Many volunteers improve the Native Plant Garden near the McCoy House Museum in Old Town San Diego.
I was pleased to stumble upon an Earth Day event today as I walked into Old Town San Diego State Historic Park. A variety of organizations had gathered along the path leading to the McCoy House Museum, and many volunteers were working in the nearby Native Plant Garden.
What did I see?
Sign welcomes visitors to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park’s cool Earth Day Open House!Volunteers work with a State Park Ranger in Old Town’s native garden for Earth Day. The Old Town Transit Center is visible in the background.A row of tents near the McCoy House Museum welcomes curious visitors during the Earth Day Open House event.These guys represent Green Love, an environmental organization of the Associated Students at San Diego State University.Green Love’s endeavors include campus outreach, environmental justice, sustainable transportation, and even a community garden.Friendly ladies of the Old Town Basketry Guild demonstrate their ancient craft.Sheet details how to become a member of the Old Town San Diego State Historic Park Basketry Guild.Participants in Old Town’s Earth Day hang out by the McCoy House, which today serves as a museum of San Diego’s early history.At this table, the California State Parks Foundation celebrates Earth Day!This sheet shows upcoming volunteer opportunities in several regional California State Parks!A knowledgeable expert showed me examples of native San Diego flowers, including the richly golden California poppy, our state’s official flower.Flyer provides info concerning the California Native Plant Society’s San Diego Garden Tour 2019.I declined to plant a seed today, but I did get some smiles.Guys with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife answered questions at their table. I believe that’s a coyote.Hard-working volunteers could be seen all around the Native Plant Garden.These generous Target employee volunteers were repairing the fence around the McCoy House. Thank you!Caring for our planet during a cool Earth Day event.
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People have gathered in Chula Vista’s Memorial Park for South Bay Earth Day!
Today I headed to Memorial Park in Chula Vista to check out South Bay Earth Day!
This cool annual event inspires community members to save water and energy, protect the environment, and keep our corner of the planet beautiful and clean.
I walked about and learned all sorts of useful information at many booths. I read about environmental projects that are being undertaken by the City of Chula Vista and various nonprofit organizations. I saw how community members are working to improve their neighborhoods.
These photos contain many great ideas. Click the images of signs to enlarge them for easy reading. Much of the information is of special interest to residents in San Diego’s South Bay. If you live elsewhere, perhaps you will be inspired, too!
Chula Vista’s beautiful Memorial Park provides an oasis of green in an urban setting.The City of Chula Vista has various programs that help to protect the environment and improve quality of life.Earth Month Calendar of Events for the City of Chula Vista, which includes volunteer opportunities like the Creek to Bay Cleanup.City of Chula Vista, Leaders in Innovation. Programs include smart irrigation, traffic signals, sustainable buildings and drones.Activities at South Bay Earth Day include making art. I enjoyed seeing neighbors creating colorful tie-dye!Some great artists had booths. A horse etched and painted on a gourd from Dream Job Craftworks by Kathy Page.Southwestern College had an assortment of succulents at its Sustainable Landscape Practice table. These native plants can provide water saving ground cover for your yard.Mel Clarkston of LetsGetTrashed.Art shows her mosaics made mostly of plastic trash found on beaches!An amazing Golden State mosaic made from small bits of litter!The San Diego Fix-it Clinic had a table at the event. No need to throw certain things away. They repair many broken items for free!Every month, the San Diego Fix-it Clinic will repair broken things like electronics, appliances, and even clothes!The City of Chula Vista Sustainability Commission had a table and interested visitors.One of their displays compared the biodegradability of paper, different plastics and Styrofoam.A perfect, sunny spring day at South Bay Earth Day!Sign explains how the City of Chula Vista is developing an Active Transportation Plan to help guide future pedestrian and bicycle improvements.This table explained a very cool Seed Library concept.The Otay Ranch branch of the Chula Vista Public Library has a Seed Library. Community members can take seeds to plant, or donate harvested seeds back to the library!Of course, recycling stations could be found all around the South Bay Earth Day event.I learned at the Surfrider Foundation booth that the 3rd Annual March For Clean Water is next weekend in Imperial Beach!I learned from some Girl Scouts that certain chemicals in sunscreens harm coral reefs. Safe active ingredients are Zinc Oxide and Titanium Dioxide.Community members learn how to protect the environment at South Bay Earth Day!
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Use cans and old kitchen tools for plant pots! Dryer lint as cotton with nail polish remover to take off polish!
Late this morning, I walked from Cortez Hill to the 2016 EarthFair in Balboa Park. The cool event, corresponding with Earth Day, is the largest annual environmental fair in the world!
Thousands turned out today for the 2016 EarthFair in Balboa Park. San Diego residents celebrated Earth Day and learned how to help protect the environment.
I blogged about EarthFair the last couple of years and showed you a little bit of almost everything–so this time I decided to take a different, more practical approach. As I walked through San Diego’s garden-like Balboa Park, I searched the many exhibits for useful ideas about things we can do in our daily lives to protect the environment.
Here are a few things I found. Please read the captions! And feel free to share!
1. Ideas for creatively repurposing used household items.
One major theme of EarthFair was re-using and repurposing old items that might otherwise be thrown away. I noted some cool ideas and took pics!
Poster shows many creative repurposing ideas! Click photo to enlarge and read some cool, very unusual ideas that you might try!These shiny, colorful handbags were made from recycled Kool-Aid and Capri Sun packets!Take old clothes to make new clothes for homeless and toys for kids.Recycling vintage fabric into baby bibs.Turn old sweaters into beautiful pillows.People check out the world’s largest festival celebrating Earth Day–EarthFair in San Diego’s sunny Balboa Park!
2. Tasty ways to use up excess fruits and vegetables.
One display created by the County of San Diego provided excellent information about how to use leftover or surplus fruits and vegetables, to avoid unnecessary waste. Those pics came out blurry, so here’s what I noted:
Spinach–add to sandwiches, soups, egg dishes, pasta or smoothies.
Bananas–add to cereal, yogurt or smoothies. Blend frozen bananas with milk and vanilla for a healthy dessert.
Citrus–add to green or fruit salads, soups, pasta or sauces. Add peels to vinegar for a simple household cleaner.
Tomatoes–add to salads, egg dishes, sandwiches or pasta. Use to make fresh salsa, tomato sauce or bruschetta.
Onions–add to salads, soups, egg dishes, sandwiches or stir-fry. Pickle red onions. Make onion preserves.
Peppers–add to sandwiches, salads, egg dishes or stir-fry. Steam and puree to make soup or a sauce for meat or pasta.
Avocados–add to smoothies, salads, sandwiches, egg dishes or baked goods. Spread on toast. Use in pasta sauce with lemon, garlic, oil and basil.
Beets–add to salads, soups or stir-fry. Use roasted beets in place of meat on sandwiches.
Broccoli and Cauliflower–add to salads, soups, egg dishes or stir-fry. Add finely chopped or grated cauliflower to rice.
Berries–add to fruit or green salads, hot or cold cereals, smoothies or yogurt. Use in a fruit salsa served with bread or chips.
Potatoes–add to salads, soups or egg dishes. Use russet potatoes to make potato skins. Use leftover baked potatoes to make hashbrowns.
Corn–add to soups or salads. Use to make a fresh corn salsa. Bake into cornbread or potato pancakes.
3. Things you can do to help protect the environment–and save money!
Here are a few displays I photographed that contained some great advice! Click the photos to enlarge them!
Compost can be made with shredded paper, grass clippings, wood chips, garden leftovers, leaves, livestock manure, chopped up yard debris and used coffee grounds.To save energy, use efficient lighting, adjust your thermostat, install solar, reduce driving, and keep your car maintained and tires properly inflated.Check to see if your city offers free utility inspections and efficiency analysis. In San Diego, a free water survey program is available.Ride a bicycle to work! In San Diego, Bike to Work Day in 2016 is Friday, May 20. You might consider walking or taking public transit, too!Many San Diegans saved energy, reduced air pollution and stayed healthy by riding their bicycles to EarthFair!
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Our big blue marble Earth dangles in the sky on San Diego’s Embarcadero for an Earth Day event.
Last weekend Earth Day was observed at the jam-packed EarthFair in Balboa Park. This weekend, the first annual Earth Day on the Bay took place. The event was centered around the Maritime Museum of San Diego, and concentrated on maintaining a healthy coast and ocean. Admission to all the awesome museum ships was free, and being a cheapskate, I decided to walk down to the Embarcadero and enjoy myself!
Earth Day on the Bay featured free admission to the Maritime Museum of San Diego plus many organizations with environment-themed exhibits.The historic 1898 steam ferryboat Berkeley, the museum’s hub, is also featuring nature photography by Ansel Adams and others.The TOPtoTOP Global Climate Expedition ship is visiting San Diego at the moment.
As I walked across the deck of the Berkeley, enjoying views of our beautiful big San Diego Bay, I happened to notice an unusual boat docked among the museum’s ships. The hull included the United Nations Environment Programme logo. Apparently, people participating in the TOPtoTOP Global Climate Expedition are visiting San Diego for a couple days. They gave a talk yesterday at the museum about their mission. According to their website, it is to inspire children in classrooms and share examples of nature’s beauty, and foster innovations for a green planet. They believe that great human goals and progress can be achieved in balance with nature.
TOPtoTOP, docked among other museum ships, is equipped with many solar panels. It’s sailing around the globe using only human and natural power sources.The various Earth Day exhibitors on the waterfront included the Port of San Diego, with a report on critical conservation and other green projects.The first annual Earth Day on the Bay attracted a modest crowd, but it’s a good start!This big inflatable whale allowed humans to grasp the scale of the marine mammal.I enjoyed a harbor tour on a very unique Maritime Museum boat, which I’ll blog about shortly!
I got two cool blog posts coming up! I had a couple of fun adventures today! Plus I still have lots of photos from my extensive Saturday walk around Liberty Station. I’d better get busy!
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EarthFair was held in San Diego’s Balboa Park to celebrate Earth Day.
Late this morning I took a walk through this year’s EarthFair. You might have seen my blog last year, when I posted photographs from the gigantic event. Every year EarthFair attracts tens of thousands of enthusiastic San Diegans to Balboa Park to celebrate Earth Day. It’s billed as the largest free annual environmental fair in the world, and that sounds true to me! It’s huge!
Many of the over 300 exhibitors throughout Balboa Park can be seen at the event every year, and last year I featured many in photos. So I figured this year I’d focus slightly more on close up images. Super colorful art on signs, shirts, gifts and canvases provided many opportunities for my camera. I also saw a lot of smiles!
Cool graphic on official EarthFair shirt. The annual Balboa Park event attracted a huge crowd as usual!One of many handmade signs with environmental messages… love the Earth. Plant a tree.Bright sunflowers on table of urban farming advocates.Super smile promoting the Cacaofest, which celebrates the cultures behind the chocolate! I’m there!Solar-powered rotating globe held in a sculpted human hand.Creating art out of perfectly good food saved from dumpsters. I blogged about these guys last year!
Donate Don’t Dump is a project undertaken by Rob Greenfield. Check out my blog from last year, if you’d like!
A powerful smile from the artist behind Nuts and Beans are Powerful Proteins!Protecting animals was one major theme at EarthFair.This cool guy is Dr. Wilderness. He had a family magic show. Great outfit!This cheerful Dad and daughter musical duo was raising money to help build school gardens.A flower and a smile. I learned how copper gives slimy snails an electrical shock!A happy blue whale out of water.Lots of tie-dye could be seen throughout Balboa Park.Many crafts, clothes and goods for sale featured lush color and spiritual imagery from Eastern religious traditions.A super cool painting of Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn, created by artist Michael Rosenblatt.
Is this painting of local baseball legend Tony Gwynn awesome, or what? It has a Facebook page!
Lots of hand-crafted musical instruments were for sale.Some guys carry flags in preparation for a small Earth Day parade through Balboa Park.Sam Garcia, Jr. paints a canvas. Several talented artists were at work for all to see.Creative kids (or adults) could color these huge panels however they pleased!Large panels on display featured fantastic artwork, many images with a 1960s feel.This human skull really caught my attention!Beautiful wild animals in an exotic nature scene.What’s your sign? This panel showed activist signs photographed during the 25 years of EarthFair.This very nice Quaker lady advocates vegetarianism.Kids’ art shown at The Project Lennon table. This organization promotes peace and positive outlets for urban youth.Various vegan and vegetarian groups had different booths and some humorous signs.I wonder what the animal rights folks would think of this? Animals used to fight poverty and hunger!Which one of these is the real animal? That happy parrot on top!Sign states that every year 30,000 species go extinct.I saw lots of banners with peace signs and rainbow colors.This butterfly was flitting about in the San Diego spring breeze.Food was also a major topic, and appeared in unusual works of art.This totem pole was made of recycled materials!A table in the kids activity area promoted imagination and creativity.Harry Eubanks of Rivers Eden paints cool art on old bits of wooden fencing.Fun art from recycled everyday items in the Repair and Reuse tent.The art of peace by Da Vinci, Warhol, Picasso, Van Gogh and other famous artists.Arts and crafts were for sale in a large vendor area on the grass near Park Boulevard.Lion dances would take place later in the day!Volunteer today! Plant a butterfly garden in Balboa Park! Do it!Art was encouraged everywhere I turned. I enjoyed taking a walk through the 2015 EarthFair!
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Activist at EarthFair fights the Keystone Pipeline.
I couldn’t resist heading over to EarthFair today. What’s EarthFair? It’s a gigantic annual event that celebrates Earth Day in Balboa Park!
Put on by San Diego EarthWorks, this year’s EarthFair featured more than 300 exhibitors, promoting pro-environment concepts, policies, programs, business and education. The event is billed as a big tent celebration, and so the multitude of participants often seem an unlikely hodgepodge. From more traditional viewpoints, to those that are truly radical, all sorts of ideas and visions are expressed. It’s a colorful, thought-provoking and entertaining event with endless photographic opportunities!
Here are some pics!
Old objects reused to create art and jewelry.Learning to make yarn from plastic bags.Crafts at EarthFair include tennis racket mirrors.Kids have fun with great big bubbles.Costumed characters greet a child at EarthFair.Booth in Balboa Park promotes camping nude.Hemp enthusiasts check out wares at EarthFair.Meat eaters enjoy barbeque for Earth Day.1912 Baker Electric Car fitted with a solar panel!Kids learn how to set up teepees on a Balboa Park grassy area.Big Mama Earth provides green lessons for kids.San Diego Public Library’s booth with many interesting books.A lovely blue recycle bin poses for my camera!SoCal Parrot lady and a bright green friend.Earth Day activists conceal anti-abortion sign with banners.Toyota shows hybrid vehicles in front of Museum of Art.Old hiking gear can be fixed up and used again.Table with information about pest control using copper.Two rescued raptors shown to crowd on El Prado.Huge canvas interprets the reflecting pool with vivid colors.Mellow steel drum entertainment during EarthFair.Balboa Park’s trashcans were blocked with flower pots.Looking west down El Prado at huge Earth Day crowd.Advocating for the protection of seals.Activists oppose new power plant at Mission Trails Park.A table demonstrates the benefits of composting.Smokey the Bear stands near Surfrider Foundation booth.Man painted blue advocates for lower carbon emissions.High school student with Save the World Fridays sign.Scripps Aquarium brought some big shark jaws.Peace sign and coexist sign in the crowd.Banner in booth opposes eating animals.Petitions include dividing California into six states.Secret chemtrail and HAARP programs are opposed.Free hugs are offered to visitors at Balboa Park’s EarthFair!
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A friendly greeting from the folks at downtown’s SMARTS Farm.
This morning I headed out for a short walk along F Street in downtown San Diego’s East Village, with the intention of photographing some awesome murals and street art. As I was strolling along, my feet carried me into a super cool place I really hadn’t noticed before.
SMARTS Farm is an urban garden run by the nonprofit organization Humane Smarts. In addition to being a community garden, SMARTS Farm offers educational programs aimed at local kids. Children plant their own produce, watch it grow and learn about our environment. Photography classes are also offered!
How appropriate that I randomly discovered this cool place on Earth Day!
Happiness is working in a beautiful urban garden.Lots of stuff to see, including some photo art.An educational community garden in the concrete jungle.SMARTS Farm is located on F Street in downtown San Diego’s East Village.Children learn to love gardening and being outside.New beds where salsa ingredients will be grown.Lots of fun stuff to see!Look at this big old tub of color!Grow, Cultivate, Learn, Share.
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