Members of the South Bay community gathered today in Chula Vista’s Bayfront Park for a great annual event. Today was South Bay Earth Day!
Organizations who are working toward a healthy natural environment provided information and opportunities to people who share their values. I walked about and learned a lot.
Yes–there was music and food trucks and fun activities, too. It was another wonderful day on beautiful San Diego Bay.
The City of Chula Vista had a big presence at South Bay Earth Day, including their Office of Sustainability.Learning about recycling and its benefits.A smile at The Water Conservation Garden table. I was just there yesterday! The garden is truly amazing! (My first blog post concerning that visit is here.)The Master Gardener Association of San Diego County had this plant display. Native plants in your landscaping conserves water.The Earth Discovery Institute had a display about Monarch butterflies. They were handing out seed packets for growing milkweed. Milkweed is the only food source for monarch caterpillars.Youth 4 a Sustainable Future includes 15 local schools. They are part of South Bay Sustainable Communities Network. They educate about sustainability, do community cleanups, distribute rescued food, host nature hikes…The Living Coast Discovery Center was showing this rosy boa snake.One of the creative activities at the event was making tie-dye shirts.Event visitors could also put together a small potted plant. Most appeared to be succulents.Handy members of San Diego Fixit Clinic were repairing assorted broken things–instead of sending them to the landfill.Republic Services was showcasing their electric garbage truck.A happy greeting from the San Diego Bird Alliance (used to be Audubon Society). These good people are busy protecting birds.Birds make us better!These smiles were at the Cabrillo National Monument table. (I recently walked down to their tidepools via the new Oceanside Trail. See those photos here.)If you’d like to volunteer at Cabrillo National Monument, there’s their email address!Here’s another smile! It’s at the Cabrillo National Monument Foundation table. They are a philanthropic partner of the National Park Service and help provide funds for the needs of Cabrillo National Monument. Their efforts include educational programs, conservation and community engagement.Stewie the green sea turtle was representing U.S. Navy Environmental. Check out his webpage here!
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As I walked through the garden today, I noticed someone working on this incredible wall. Rosalie, a friendly garden volunteer and artist, took a moment to show me what she was up to. She explained that her Tool Wall is nearing completion!
Some grouting, painting and a bit of other work, and the artistic wall will be finally completed. She been working on it for months.
The wall stands by a path in an area of the educational Water Conservation Garden that is devoted to the use of garden tools. Appropriately, decorated garden tools project from the top of the wall!
Rosalie explained the words on the wall: A garden is a grand teacher. It’s a quote by a very famous British horticulturist and garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll. Yes, tending a garden teaches patience, nurturing, a love for nature and the outdoors…
I’ll soon be blogging more about the amazing Water Conservation Garden, a hidden gem in San Diego’s East County, so stay tuned!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Today the Nature Trail at the San Diego Natural History Museum became much more lush and biodiverse. 660 plants native to the San Diego and Baja California region were added to the outdoor garden surrounding the museum!
I saw dozens of workers and volunteers this morning at work putting in the native plants. I learned that many new species (many of them pollinators) will now grow along this nature trail in the heart of Balboa Park.
This greatly increased diversity of plant life is fitting for a world-class natural history museum. I was told many more educational signs will be appearing, providing information about the new plants.
Wow! Look at my photos! The NAT has many helpers and volunteers!
According to one online description anticipating today’s event, experts from the Barona Cultural Society Museum, Tree of Life Nursery, Native West Nursery, City Farmers Nursery, and the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) will provide step-by-step guidance on proper planting techniques and native plant care.
I walked along the nature trail in the afternoon after the work was completed, and all the new plantings are amazing!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
The Point Loma Association’s volunteer Mean Green Team must have been busy lately. Because look at all the beautiful, bright spring flowers planted along Shelter Island’s long Shoreline Park pathway!
I took this series of photographs today as I walked along the edge of Shelter Island beside San Diego Bay…
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Last year, when I visited The Walkway of the Stars in La Mesa, two of eight murals had yet to be painted. I checked out the alley-like pocket park again yesterday and discovered that the final murals, which honor community volunteers, have been finished!
If you’d like to see all of the amazing murals with your own eyes, you can find The Walkway of the Stars in downtown La Mesa between the Allison Avenue municipal parking lot and La Mesa Boulevard.
“Thanks for Your Help!” by Channin Fulton (@channinfulton)“Jewel of the Hills” by Nolan Lee (@nolanleeart)
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
A new public park, nature center and educational facility is rising in Mission Valley!
The River Center at Grant Park, an amazing project of the San Diego River Park Foundation, is gradually taking form on Camino del Rio North, immediately east of Qualcomm Way.
I walked in Mission Valley yesterday afternoon and took photographs of the River Center over the surrounding construction fence. It was exciting to see how one building is now standing near the center’s entrance.
Last summer I enjoyed a tour of the new River Center and posted a blog here. Since then several structures have appeared, as you can see in these photos.
A kiosk has appeared outside what will be the River Center at Grand Park.I love the artwork on this long construction wall at one end of the coming park space.I took this photo near the park’s future entrance.I believe this building near the Entry Courtyard is The Den pavilion structure. It will include restrooms.A walkway at the park entrance that will lead to an outdoor amphitheater. (The construction you see near the top of this photo is a completely separate commercial project on the opposite side of the San Diego River.)The San Diego River Foundation needs you to join their volunteer team!
Feeling inspired? Would you like to help the San Diego River Park Foundation?
Opportunities include habitat restoration projects, river clean-up events, educational volunteer experiences, joining the Grant Park River Center care team, becoming a community engagement volunteer, and administrative support opportunities.
There’s a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that rescues dogs from high kill shelters and the streets of Mexico. The Animal Pad rescues all breeds with its connections in Baja California–particularly in Ensenada and Tijuana.
Early this afternoon, as I walked through San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, I met smiling volunteers who were engaged in community outreach. I learned a little about the good work they are doing. The Animal Pad rescues dogs from Southern California as well as Mexico. They provide veterinarian care and rehabilitation for the rescued dogs before four-legged friends head to loving foster homes.
The Animal Pad also has a youth education program and operates the fun Camp Tappy Tails for dog loving children ages 7-12. Their La Mesa facility hosts birthday parties, too!
The Animal Pad website explains: The Animal Pad is only able to do what we do through the efforts of a wide network of volunteers, fosters, donors, sponsor organizations, and adopters. It truly takes a village. And we are always looking for help! The Animal Pad is seeking new avenues for fundraising, veterinary and pet supply connections, and anything else that can assist TAP in helping these innocent souls.
Would you like to adopt a new friend? Do you want to be a hero and help out in some other way? Go to The Animal Pad website by clicking here!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
A public park clean-up event will take place this weekend in downtown San Diego. Neighbors will be coming together to beautify the Tweet Street linear park on Cortez Hill!
You are encouraged to join the community volunteer effort! It’s led by the Cortez Hill Active Residents Group (CHARG).
I saw the above flyer posted at one end of Tweet Street Park. The beautification project takes place on Saturday, November 16th, 2024.
Meet at the corner of 9th Avenue and Date Street, near the playground. Equipment will be provided! Downtown San Diego’s Clean and Safe Program will be on hand to help out!
Very cool!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Half a dozen new murals are now being painted in downtown La Mesa!
The fresh new murals are located in The Walkway of the Stars, a pocket park that celebrates La Mesa’s volunteers. I checked out the walkway today and was excited to discover both finished murals and murals in progress, and two artists at work!
Three weeks ago these walls were blank, and I posted a blog concerning the project. See what I wrote here. Two more murals are due to be painted, for a total of eight.
Here’s what I saw today…
Artist Kolten French of Mindful Murals is working on artwork titled Litter Pick Up.A mural in progress. Agents of Change: A Novel Approach is by artist Marc Hedges. One book spine indicates World Design Capital San Diego/ Tijuana.Another beautiful new mural. Basket of Abundance and Sharing by artist Jonny Alexander.Painting a cool mural that concerns volunteerism in local sports. Volunteer Coaching by artist Don Masse.Artist Don Masse of Shine Brite Productions smiles!Helping Hands Make La Mesa Shine is a mural in progress.Grow Love. A very colorful, beautiful mural in downtown La Mesa by Anna Pearson.
UPDATE!
I swung by a couple weeks later…
A beautiful mural in La Mesa, by artist Shannen Mythen.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Lila and Corey Cleary-Stoner led a clean up event in Balboa Park yesterday. They and a group of caring volunteers walked around the park, removing litter from San Diego’s beautiful crown jewel, making it shine.
What was unique about this clean up? Lila and Corey combine litter removal with performance art. To attract interest from those nearby, they wear full Japanese costume and call their performance Cleanup Kitsune.
The two got the idea for Cleanup Kitsune from their attending Renaissance Fairs in costume. Both are Japanophiles. In Japan, they explained as I watched them sort collected trash, people are very careful about keeping their world clean and healthy. Why not inject some of that ethos here in San Diego?
According to the All Goods website: Since their launch in June 2023, CleanUp Kitsune has removed and sorted approximately 45,000 pieces/280lbs of litter & through their waste organization stations have diverted over 2000 pounds of waste from landfills. CleanUp Kitsune is also the recipient of the 2024 Enhancing Ecosystems sPARK award by Forever Balboa Park.
I spent much of Saturday morning wandering around Balboa Park, meaning to find Lila and Corey doing their thing in costume. I failed!
But I did find both speaking to the CleanUp Kitsune volunteers at the conclusion of the day’s effort. We all learned what sorts of trash can be recycled. Then the sorting began!
Thank you all for “littering kindness!”
This is what I missed:
I did discover volunteers picking up litter…
Forever Balboa Park and some friendly superheroes joined the effort!
Look at all the trash they collected! That’s Lila and Corey speaking to the assembled volunteers…
UPDATE!
Lila and Corey have told me that with nearly 40 volunteers they collected a total of 110.51 pounds of trash in Balboa Park. They diverted 49.55 pounds of trash from the landfill by separating waste into the following categories:
Cool San Diego Sights! 