Saturday, April 18, 10am – 2pm, in Gough Park

Indi Blake of the Silver City Watershed Keepers introduced children to Flower the Tortoise at Gila Earth Day 2019. This year’s Gila Earth Day 2020 will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day on Saturday, April 18th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Gough Park in Silver City. In 1970, the first Earth Day event galvanized 20 million Americans to demand that our nation protect our environment. Earth Day 1970 birthed the modern environmental movement that led to establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and passage of the first federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, bedrock environmental laws that protect our nation’s water and air quality.  

Earth Day 2020 builds upon 50 years of environmental progress and recognizes the need for Climate Action as the most pressing environmental challenge confronting our planet .The scientific evidence is clear and irrefutable — human activity is causing our planet to warm at an alarming rate. International bodies of scientists have warned that we have just over a decade to halve our emissions to avoid the most devastating impacts of climate change on our food supply, national security, global health, extreme weather, catastrophic fires, and more.  

“This is both a birthday party and an important call to action,” said Doyne Wrealli, Program Associate with the Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP) and the coordinator of the event. “Gila Earth Day 2020 will not only celebrate efforts over the past 50 years to protect our planet, but also provide information and resources on ways that we can take individual and collective action on climate change.” 

The international Earth Day Network has identified five main prongs to their call to action:  Earth Challenge 2020 is engaging and empowering citizen scientists; the Great Global Cleanup is removing billions of pieces of trash around the world; Foodprints measure the environmental impacts associated with the growing, producing, transporting, and storing of our food; Artists for the Earth is a global campaign to connect with arts organizations and artists; and the Canopy Project has already improved our shared environment by planting tens of millions of trees across the globe in the last 10 years. 

Wrealli is getting the word out to the community to solicit volunteers, participants, entertainers, and ideas.

“This celebration couldn’t happen without the participation of the volunteers that make up the planning committee.  They are absolutely vital to the event. They make all the big decisions.” said Wrealli. “We meet for one hour every other Friday afternoon, and no experience is needed.”  

“If you have an idea for the event, would like to be a vendor or entertainer, or would like to be a part of the planning committee, we want to hear from you.” said Wrealli.  

For more information, contact Doyne Wrealli at earthendoyne@gmail.com or call 575-297-9734.