Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. I have been anticipating this occasion for months. Earth Day started in 1970 when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets all across the country to protest environmental ignorance and work towards a better future and we are continuing their legacy. As you might know, The Grey Water Project conducted an Earth Day competition that started in February and ended in Early April and culminated in the Earth Day Summit on April 11th 2020.The goal was to create a fun, in-person event to showcase student work as well as to talk about the impacts of climate change. Given what the world is facing, I am happy to report that more than 100 students from across the US registered for the competition! We had submissions from students of all grade levels: kindergartners all the way up to high school and we were able to pivot our Earth Day summit online.
I am so proud of all the work that the student participants have done. Their art, literature, research poster, dance and music submissions showed that they understood the magnitude of the challenges facing our planet. Their work inspired me, and I am sure it will inspire all those who see it.Here is a link to a virtual VR art gallery with the participant's art submissions! The art submissions were judged by Dr. Richard Godffrey, Dona Olsen and Phil Stob from Tri-City Ecology Center as well as Ms. Olson from American High's art department. The dance entries were judged by Julianne Godffrey, a Broadway performer and instructor. The music entries were judged by Kelli Kathman, a professional flutist in New York.
Our first and second grand awards were sponsored by The Society for Science and the Public . These winners will receive a one year subscription to the fun and informative science news magazine. Our grade level awards were sponsored by the Tri-City Ecology Center. The full list of awards can be found athttps://www.thegreywaterproject.org/earthday2020-awardlist. Rachel DiFranco from the city of Fremont and Anna Muller of Stanford University were the keynote speakers. Anna spoke about the role of virtual reality on climate change education and Rachel spoke about the various opportunities around the bay area for the students.
The Grey Water Project's Earth Day event is far from the only one and there are many other virtual conferences that you can attend and learn from.
Here's a list of Earth Day events where I am speaking this week. Please feel free to register and join one or all of them.
Keynote speaker, StopWaste Schools Virtual Earth Day - Wednesday April 22nd, Register at stopwaste.org/schools
Speaker, EarthX Youthspeaker series - Saturday, April 25th
Climate Change Conference in VR - Wednesday April 22nd, Register at https://www.virtualworldarcade.com/climatechangeconference.html
Panelist - Reduce, Recycle, & Clean Energy Panelists
Moderator - Community Impact & Activism Panel
You can also find out more earth day events through Earth Day Live 2020, a 3 day livestream from April 22nd - 24th!
Happy Earth Day everyone and stay safe!