COLUMBUS, Ohio – In its eighth year, the Earth Day observance is Columbus will be a week long and organizers hope will involve hundreds of volunteers pitching in to help in dozens of projects across the city.
Green Columbus, which began organizing the local Earth Day event in 2007, is teaming up with the Columbus Foundation again to plan a week’s worth of work – under the theme “Gratitude”— beginning April 19 and capped off by a day-long celebration on April 26, Green Columbus founder Tad Dritz said during an interview for the “Perspective” public affairs program.
“There is a lot of personal action that does make a difference,” he said.
Earth Day Columbus is the largest volunteer effort anywhere, Dritz says, and has accounted for more than 55,000 hours of volunteers’ time planting 23,000 trees, cleaning up neighborhoods and establishing community gardens, among other things.
While praising larger efforts, like citywide curbside recycling and rechanneling the Olentangy and Scioto Rivers, Dritz says smaller projects also have a major impact.
“When you build those grass roots, people who care about the environment at the neighborhood level, that plants seeds in their mind and they think that, you know, if we can do it here, we can do it other places and we can take on these bigger challenges,” Dritz said.
Dritz says volunteers can sign up for tasks at 98 sites, including tree- planting, cleaning riverbanks and planting or maintaining gardens.
On April 26 a celebration to commemorate Earth Day will be held at Columbus Commons from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. The event will feature Mayor Coleman’s annual Earth Day address, live bands, food trucks, green businesses and kids’ activities.