By Gwyneth Artkop.
Earth Day is Monday, April 22. It comes around once a year as a reminder that we ought to take care of our home—for the benefit of ourselves, our children, and our children’s children.
Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson as a day focused on education about environmental issues. Initially targeted at college students, the holiday is now celebrated around the globe and beyond the 22nd of the month.
Earth Day has become increasingly important over the years as we’ve become more aware of the volume of waste and pollution we are collectively producing and the negative effects it’s having on our health, wildlife, and the earth. Some of the challenges we are currently facing include: handling waste, particularly as other countries have recently begun refusing to take on the burden of recycling America’s waste; decreasing plastic waste, consumption, and production as plastic can now be found in the deepest parts of the ocean, in our food, and in our air; decreasing light pollution as we switch to brighter bulbs and spend more time inside; and avoiding toxins as they have infiltrated our food, beauty products, cleaning products, home goods, and clothing.
Ways that Haddam is honoring Earth Day this year include:
- “Music with Margie” at Brainerd Memorial Library on April 25, 2019 at 10:30 a.m.
- Spring Invasive Plant Cleanups at Haddam Meadows on Saturday, April 13, 2019 and Saturday, May 11, 2019 from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
- On April 13, 2019 the town is partnering with Take2 electronics recycling to collect electronics, hard drives–anything with a plug–and recycle it properly.
- Recently, Haddam’s efforts to collect and recycle plastic bag earned the town a Trex Bench.
- A compost bin was installed at the Haddam Town Office Building.
Since 2015, Bay State Textiles has had a trailer at the Haddam Transfer Station to collect textiles–clothing, accessories, footwear, linens, and stuffed animals–to be recycled and reused. Ninety five per cent of all textiles can be recycled or reused and the best part of this program is that for every ton collected, the town gets $100.
The Sustainability Committee’s next meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. at the Town Office Building.
