How to Celebrate Earth Day Tomorrow and This Weekend

If you’re reading this post, you (very likely) live on the planet known as Earth. And since you live there, why not clean up the place every once in a while? It’s a real mess sometimes, to be honest.

If you’re interested in pitching in, you’re in luck. There are plenty of ways to participate in the festivities tomorrow and this weekend. Here are just a few of them.

Representatives from environmental nonprofit Earthworks will collect old cell phones and chargers between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. tomorrow at 19th and L streets NW. Phone and charger donors will receive a potted flower in exchange. The donation effort is part of Golden Triangle BID‘s annual Earth Day celebration.

The District’s Department of Energy and Environment is slated to run its seed giveaway outside more than a dozen D.C. Metro stops, including Columbia Heights, from 8 to 9 a.m. tomorrow. Those in attendance will receive a mix of seeds for black-eyed susans, oxeye sunflowers and butterfly milkweed, among other plants.

Dance away Earth Day with square dance lessons at All Souls Unitarian Church (1500 Harvard St. NW). According to a Facebook event post, “local newgrass band Notes from the Underground will be plucking and fiddling tunes in homage of Mother Earth as well as some fun circle songs with caller Janine Smith.”

Want to get your hands dirty? At least four community cleanup days are scheduled for Saturday:

• Volunteers will meet at the Park View Recreation Center (Warder and Otis Pl. NW) at 10 a.m. to plant flowers and pick up trash around the area. Tools and gloves will be provided. As an added bonus, all volunteers get free pizza for lunch at noon.
• Help beautify the T Street Park (17th Street and New Hampshire Ave. NW) by picking up trash, pouring mulch into tree boxes and tending to the park’s gardening. D.C. Department of Public Works will provide trash bags and mulch, but attendees are encouraged to bring gloves and shovels.
• The Coupe (3415 11th St. NW) and the Columbia Heights Initiative are joining forces for a community cleanup from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Following a morning of raking, sweeping and trash disposal, spring cleaning helpers will get complimentary hot dogs and chips at the Initiative’s headquarters at 3400 11th St. NW, which also will serve as the meeting place for the volunteers.
• LeDroit Park neighbors will meet in the park to to pick up the trash at 10 a.m. “The trash situation is absolutely ridiculous right now,” wrote one listserv member. “Please bring a trash bag and gloves.”

The Blue Sky Puppet Theater will perform an educational Earth Day puppet show for little ones in attendance at Stead Park (1625 P St. NW) on Saturday at 11 a.m.

Got an Earth Day event you’d like to send our way? Let us know by emailing us or tweeting at us.

Photo via Instagram / Golden Triangle BID