EARTH DAY 2006
Events aim to preserve planet
On Earth Day, celebrated today and over the weekend, Hawaii residents will enhance a wetland, clean up trash, recycle, produce a play and learn about ways to protect the earth.
» The University of Hawaii at Manoa will mark Earth Day today with beautification projects, an "Eco-Fair" and a forum on how to make the campus more environmentally friendly, according to a UH news release.
The events will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the Hawaii Hall lawn facing Varney Circle. The "Eco-Fair" will feature sustainability exhibits, food made with locally grown and organic ingredients, handmade crafts and other green products, and music by local bands.
Students also will landscape the area around Hawaii Hall and participate in a student sustainability forum. Open discussion groups will hold three sessions on energy, recycling and food to come up with ideas for improvements to be presented to UH-Manoa Chancellor Denise Konan in a ceremony at noon.
» An Earth Day workday in Kawainui Marsh will consist of landscaping a wetland bird islet in the marsh estuary on Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Volunteers may come to Kaha Park (Kawainui Neighborhood Park) to park and walk onto the levee, where they will be taken by boat to the islet to work. Work will include weeding, digging waterways and planting native wetland plants. Dress for the day's outing, wear gloves and bring a water canteen and a snack.
Ahahui Malama I Ka Lokahi and participants in the University of Hawaii's Kua'ana Scholarship Program will be among the workers, but others are welcome. For more information, contact Chuck Burrows at 595-3922 or e-mail chuckb@hawaii.rr.com.
» Also near Kawainui Marsh tomorrow, the Windward Ahupuaa Alliance will hold a huge cleanup day with pre-registered participants. Latecomers can contribute by bringing HI-5 recyclable bottles and cans to Wayside Park on Kapaa Quarry Road (near the model airplane field) from 8:30 to 11:45 a.m. Donations for the Hawaii Foodbank also will be accepted. Funds from recycling will go to the food bank and the Environment Club at Kalaheo High School.
» At Leilehua High School, city, state and school officials and private companies will take in scrap metal, appliances, pipes, beams, car parts, newspapers, cardboard, beverage containers and other waste to raise funds for the school.
They will be at the school from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
» Earth Day events tomorrow at the Pacific Regional Visitor Center in Waikiki will include a Fort DeRussy beach cleanup and trolley rides to several Ala Wai Watershed Earth Day activity sites, including the Waikiki Aquarium for a fish-stocking event. Free trolleys are available from the turnaround in front of the U.S. Army Museum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Event sponsors include the Ala Wai Watershed Association, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state Department of Land and Natural Resources and 20 community organizations.