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Global Change, Local Action!

Earth Week Logo

Earth Week

Earth Week is Charlottesville and Albemarle's annual celebration of Earth Day and is an official affiliate of the Earth Day International network. In keeping with Earth Day's mission to "broaden the environmental movement worldwide and to educate and mobilize people, governments, and corporations to take responsibility for a clean and healthy environment," Earth Week's particular statement can be summed up in two words: Create awareness. To that end, every year, we work with other agencies, organizations, and businesses to host and/or promote environmental events throughout the third week of April to create the Earth Week festival. For more information about out mission, please visit the "About Us" page.

Announcements

Matt's photo gallery of the Earth Day Eco-Fair is available: You can surf through the pics at http://oasc.smugmug.com/gallery/4773596_xtBFJ#283192156_eyHow.

The results of the Tread Lightly 5K are posted at http://www.earthweek.org/Race_Results.pdf. Thank you to all who participated in this year's race! Thanks to your support, we raised over $500 to be split between Earth Week and Piedmont Environmental Council. Make sure to mark your calendar for next year!

Thank you to Paul Risberg at Altenergy, Inc., for providing solar power to our bandstand at this year's Earth Day Eco-Fair, and to the City and County for the volunteers and logistical support you provided that made the day go smoothly.

Earth Week's April 13 interview on WNRN's Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call has posted on Cville Podcast: Listen to it at http://www.cvillepodcast.com/2008/04/13/earth-week/

The 2008 Festival

In an effort to galvanize the local community in its efforts to address global climate change, this year's Earth Week committee has adopted as its theme, Global Change/Local Action. There will be several region-wide campaigns launched at the eco-fair this year, including an alternative transportation initiative sponsored by ACCT and a CFL giveaway jointly hosted by the City of Charlottesville, the Sierra Club, and Earth Week. Below are descriptions of some of the events and activities we will be putting on:

Earth Day Fair

The annual eco-fair will be at the practice football field at Charlottesville High School on Saturday, April 19th, 2008 and features the 5k "Tread Lightly" trail race. The race runs from 8:30-10 am; the eco-fair runs from 10 am to 3 pm. Attendees are encouraged to use "creative transportation" to travel to and from the event in order to reduce the environmental impact of their commute. Creative transportation includes bicycling, hiking, walking, carpooling in hybrid or biodiesel vehicles, using scooters, and/or taking advantage of the shuttle CTS is sponsoring from the Downtown Transit Station and the County Office Building. For more information about transportation to and from the event contact Zachary Shahan at info@transportationchoice.org. Tablers should contact Matt Rosefsky at matt@outdoorsocial.com. Please click here for more information on the Earth Day fair.

The Earth Week Campaigns

Cville CFLs The City of Charlottesville and several NGOs are kicking off a grass-roots campaign to collect donations of compact flourescent lightbulbs (CFLs) and redistribute them to low-income households to help reduce energy bills while improving our air quality and reducing our overall consumption of coal and nuclear energy. If you have CFLs you would like to donate to the effort, would like to receive CFLs, or learn more about the program, please check out the campaign webpage.

Discover Transportation Freedom How many ways can you get around Charlottesville without a car? Find out during ACCT's "Discover Transportation Freedom" campaign, being launched at Earth Day 2008. For more information, visit the campaign webpage or contact Zachary Shahan at info@transportationchoice.org.

Growing Food & Community The third initiative being launched at Earth Week is the Growing Food and Community campaign, which focuses on sustainable gardening, urban farm initiatives, and locally grown, produced and distributed food. Find out whether you're a localvore and, if not, how to become one! More information is available on the campaign's webpage.

Other Earth Week Events

Fridays After Five April 18, Earth Day at Fridays After Five, 5 pm - 8 pm, we'll be pulling the taps with one hand while picking up litter with the other. Stop by the literature table to say hi and to get information on all the best green groups in town and the other events we'll be hosting!

Rivanna River Sojourn The Sojourn is an overnight river trip down the length of our scenic watershed, sponsored by Rivanna Conservation Society and Blue Ridge Mountain Sports. The course of the trip starts in Charlottesville and ends in Fluvanna County. Dinner and camp set-up is included. For more information, please click here.

Arts 4 Bike Paths–EcoFair, April 19, 10:30-2:30 This annual art show hosted by Linda Capacchione never fails to generate a diverse and fascinating palette of visual media for auction. The silent art auction features works from Randy Sites Baskerville and Betty Brubach, among others. In addition, there will be plenty of hands-on creativity. Take a turn at making origami, drums, rattles, or wood sculpture—open to both kids and adults. Also, VMFA's "Right Here, Right Now" environmental art workshop taught by James Yates, will start at 10 am, meet at the booth. The proceeds benefit ACCT's community fund for biking trails & paths. For more information, please see a fuller description on the Discover Transportation Freedom webpage or contact Linda at lacapa007@yahoo.com.

Earth Day Tree Plantings—Fri.-Sun., April 18, 19 & 20 This weekend celebration has become a City Parks tradition and is a great activity for all ages and groups, especially schools studying our watershed. During the 2007 celebration, 140 volunteers helped to plant nearly 250 trees as a part of riparian buffer and reforestation efforts in Azalea, Forest Hill, Greenleaf, Jordan, McIntire, Pen, Riverview, and Tonsler parks. In 2008, four planting sessions will be held: Friday 3-5 pm, Saturday 10am-Noon and 2-4 pm, Sunday 2-4 pm. Call 970-3585 or e-mail parkvolunteers@charlottesville.org to reserve your spot in one of the tree plantings!

Wild Virginia @ TJMC-UU David Hannah of Wild Virginia will be giving a presentation on the Geo. Washington Nat'l Forest on April 18 at 7 p.m., at TJMC-UU's Social Hall. Discover the gems of this nearby attraction. At more than 1 million acres and lying totally within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the Geo. Washington is home to a multitude of natural wonders. It is the source of drinking water for many of the Commonwealth's citizens and the native home of many species, from black bears to wild turkeys, from bobcasts to wood turtles and wild trout---all on public land a mere 1.5 hr. drive away. Come and learn how you can help protect these natural treasures!

Environmental Movie Week Four different documentary movies will be shown at Gravity Lounge in our environment movie mini-festival. Playing Wednesday through Saturday at 2 pm, each day features a different film: Crude Impact, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, Eat at Bill's , and Kilowatt Ours. The Saturday showing of Kilowatt Ours will be followed by a presentation and discussion led by alternate energy advocate, Al Weed of Public Policy Virginia. For more information, check out the Environmental Movie Week page or Gravity Lounge's online calendar.

Earth Week Concerts! Emmett Nershi Band
April 22, 7:30 pm, $20

Sponsored by Blue Ridge Outdoors at Gravity Lounge. The idea for the Emmitt Nershi Band has been in the works for years as Drew Emmitt and Bill Nershi created a strong friendship at shows and festivals that they would cross musical paths at. The reality of Emmitt Nershi came about in the fall of 2007 when both Drew and Bill found themselves with free time from their other projects. Both founders of popular "jambands," Drew Emmitt (Leftover Salmon) and Bill Nershi (String Cheese Incident) have traveled the world and played in front of hundreds of thousands of people with their respective bands, but now they have time to pick, have fun and play bluegrass music together. The band also includes Rockygrass banjo contest winner Andy Thorn (Larry Keel, Broke Mountain, Big Fat Gap Bluegrass Band) and Nashville's Tyler Grant on bass.

After-Feist Party with Dave Barnes
April 26, 10:30 pm, Free

Sponsored by 106.1 The Corner, this post-concert event at Gravity Lounge features Dave Barnes, a Nashville singer-songwriter who combines a classic pop/rock sensibility with R&B groove. Fans and newcomers alike peg him as influenced by such greats as Stevie Wonder and Genesis. It's a wrap-up night of celebratory music from an amazing young talent whose melodies will stick in your head long after Earth Week has ended. Come out and join us! It's free!

Energy Efficiency Week @ CCDC Energy Efficiency Roundtable
Tuesday, April 22, 7 p.m.

Any way you look at it, energy matters. Come hear an expert panel discuss the environmental, social and political relevance of energy efficiency today and what can be done at the individual and community level to address it. Panelists will address topics ranging from the environmental consequences of our current energy use to the implications of rising energy costs on housing affordability to what local governments and individuals can do to reduce current energy demand. Panelists include Liese Dart from Piedmont Environmental Council, Tom Cormons from Appalachian Voices, Mark Watson from Piedmont Housing Alliance, Tom Kavanous from Albemarle Heating & Air, and John Oyenhart from CLEAResult Consulting.  Panel is free and open to all. Light refreshments will be served.

Workshop: Residential Energy Audits Demystified
Wednesday, April 23, 6 p.m.

Ever considered getting an energy audit? With rising energy costs hitting us hard in our wallets, now is the time to learn how to cut down your monthly utility bill while improving comfort and indoor air quality in your home. Come hear local home energy rater, Russ Edwards of Cville Enviro, talk about what’s involved in a home energy audit, how it can help you pinpoint where you are losing the most money and how to make cost effective improvements to improve your home’s overall energy performance. Workshop is free and open to the public.

Screening: Amory Lovins Lecture on Energy Efficient Buildings
Thursday, April 24, 12 noon

This is the first in a 5-part lecture series about energy efficiency given by Rocky Mountain Institute Founder Amory Lovins at Stanford University in March 2007. Mr. Lovins brings a longstanding commitment to energy efficiency and the relentless pursuit of environmentally sound energy habits and design standards. Mr Lovins’ lecture focuses on the mechanics of a comprehensive approach to designing more energy efficient buildings. An informed, inspiring and technically detailed presentation on designing for improved building performance. Free and open to the public. Run time 1 hour and 36 minutes

Earth Day @ UVA! Come to UVA Recycling's Earth Day Extravaganza on April 22, 10am-4pm, location TBA. We will have a Dumpster Dive, where we see how much material in an average UVA dumpster could have been recycled. There will be free water bottles for those who guess how many plastic bottles are in a crushed bale of recycled bottles, and free buttons and magnets for all attendees. The closest guesser will win a Kleen Kanteen water bottle from Ragged Mountain Running Shop! We will also have recycling games and representatives from environmentally-friendly University and community departments, groups, and companies. Last but not least, we will display the results of our Cabell Campaign, where our student employees and Conservation Advocates collect all the recyclables left sitting on floors and desks in Cabell Hall for one week, to show how much could have been recycled that is just being left behind.

Ivy Creek's Annual Native Plant Sale
Sunday, April 27, 1:00 pm
Don't miss the unique opportunity to purchase garden grown native wildflowers, trees, and ferns from the Jefferson Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society. This year we’ve potted a bounty of choice natives totaling about 800 plants. Flats of our bread and butter bluebells and trilliums have been readied. We’ll have robust blue cohosh and doll’s eyes neither of which we’ve offered in years. Also returning after a long absence is columbine. New to our lineup will be the potted plugs of fire pink, hairy alumroot, heart leaved skullcap, purple muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris), three-leaved stone crop, beard tongue, and Jacob’s ladder which will increase our selection beyond the usual concentration of ephemerals. In quantity from potted plugs we’ll also have woodland hydrangea (’Annebelle’). But to really make a splash for a variety of plants beyond the fifteen mentioned we are counting on additional plants provided by members. The event is free. For a list of all Ivy Creek events, click here.

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