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Eyes For You

William snapped himself with this elephant. It is such a great shot, I'm sharing it for Earth Day.

The elephant is a resident of the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. It's a lovely place to consider the beautiful creatures and plants that share the planet with us. We loved seeing so many of them.

The NC Zoo produces a poster each year about endangered species. Ask at the Education building, and they will share one with you.

They teach us, and care for the environment. Thanks to the North Carolina Zoo for a beautiful day!

Earth Day born in 1970!

Earth Day was born 40 years ago. Friends of the Earth published an Environmental Handbook for the occasion, and sold a million copies. The Clean Air Act of 1970 was passed, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established. Also that year, Mother Earth News was founded, supplying practical information for the thousands of people headed back to the land. The magazine was later based in Hendersonville, North Carolina, for around a dozen years.

This year Earth Day has its own network, where you can search events across the country. And it's presenting exhibitions and shows, with performance artists, musicians, multi-media productions and dancers, along with the Climate Rally, at the National Mall in Washington, DC, on April 17th through 25th.

Here in the Carolinas, after a long, long winter, we are happy to show appreciation for our Earth. Here are a few of the ways.

The third Charlotte Clean and Green festival will be held tomorrow, April 17th, from 10:00 a.m until 3:00 p.m., rain or shine. Clean Air Carolina will join in this year, and Appalachian Voices will be hosting a booth. Classes and exhibits will show how we can help save our natural resources, money and health. The event is held at the Central Piedmont Community College's central campus in Charlotte. For more information, please see Charlotte Clean and Green.

On Sunday, April 18th, Sierra Club North Carolina will meet at 8 a.m. to hike the Chestnut Knob Trail at South Mountains State Park. Please contact Steve Copulsky at scopulsky@mindspring.com, 704-543-7493, or 704-458-6651.

The North Carolina Energy Office will sponsor its 7th Annual Sustainable Energy Conference in Raleigh, NC, April 20th to 21st. Speakers and exhibitors will share information on the energy economy, and participants from energy-related fields will be able to network with business leaders and decision-makers. The event will be held in McKimmon Center. Check here for more information and registration.

Celebrating Earth Week, Wofford College in Glendale, South Carolina, will dedicate their new Goodall Environmental Studies Center on Tuesday, April 20, at 4 p.m. Other activities include an Earth Day Bike, Run & Thoreauvian Saunter to Glendale Shoals; an Earth Week Forum; and Water Monitoring Day at Lawson’s Fork.

On April 24, the Cane Creek Cleanup will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Volunteers will clean the Catawba River into Cane Creek, from Hwy 9 Landing boat ramp near Lancaster, South Carolina. Volunteers are needed! Please contact canecreekcleanup@gmail.com.

Environmental and Conservation Organization (ECO) is celebrating on the Blue Ridge Community College campus. A film, "Earth Days," will be shown on April 22nd, or you can hike from Hendersonville to BRCC. See information about the Earth Day Festival on April 24th here.

Sustainable Spartanburg will meet at Thornblade Club in Spartanburg, SC, on April 22nd for lunch and a presentation, "A Case for Corporate Sustainability." And Citizen Spartanburg is sponsoring Earth Day Jam in the Park on Sunday, April 25th, from 1:00pm to 6:00 pm. Meet at Duncan Park Amphitheater to enjoy live local music and learn how you can make small changes to help the Earth.

Whatever you do for the Earth this month, get together with friends or family, but get outside!

Keeping It Beautiful

Even though we can't change the economy overnight, it does help our morale to improve our surroundings. A little effort, and contribution to the common good, is valuable to our land and our people. It also gives us a great feeling, to achieve something that is good.

So it is a pleasure to join in Keep America Beautiful's annual Great American Cleanup. The activity is going on through through May 31. The project's goals are litter prevention, waste reduction and recycling, and beautification of our country.

The Great America Cleanup is assisted by local affiliate groups. Here, we have 33 North Carolina and 24 South Carolina Affiliates that are part of the clean up. The Keep America Beautiful site says activities include "beautifying parks and recreation areas, cleaning seashores and waterways, handling recycling collections, picking up litter, planting trees and flowers, and conducting educational programs and litter-free events."

The Mecklenburg County team worked with the Carolina Panthers during the home games of the 2009/2010 football season. They helped tail-gating fans to recycle more than 30 tons of bottles and cans. Check to see what is going on in your area, and see what you can do to help. If you see something else that needs to be done, you can also start an affiliate group. Together, we can do a lot.

Lights out in North Carolina!

The lights at North Carolina's State Capitol will go off for an hour tomorrow night at 8:30. We're celebrating Earth Hour! The official site shows last year's lights going off as the world turned. Join in - it's easy: turn off your lights for an hour at 8:30 pm. You can have a cookout or singalong, look at the stars, or catch up on your sleep. See you in the dark!

Join the Hunt for Bees

This season, we are planting Lemon Queen sunflowers in the garden, and hunting for bees. The Great Sunflower Project asks that we use that variety because it is especially attractive to the bees. We can help them in a fun and easy way, with this citizen science study. How do we start the hunt?

Plant sunflowers, tell about the garden;
watch bees come to visit the flowers,
and report how many bees you spy.

The kids will love this as much as adults. Gazing at the garden, we are doing an important science project! Ah, Spring...

Similar to The Great Backyard Bird Count, the bee study seeks to collect data from around the country. It tells us, "Bees: Responsible for Every Third Bite of Food." The populations of wild bees are declining, and we need more information about them. What does the loss of pollinators mean for urban and rural gardens?

It is sometimes confusing to identify the insects. There are good resources on the study's Resources for Teachers, and a bee guide link is on the bottom of the page.

Our area is famous for hornets. If you see one of these, you know to look out for them. We discovered this nest in winter and learned that hornets are actually predators; they will eat bees for lunch. Now, we really want to help the bees.

We picked up Lemon Queen sunflower seeds from the local Lowe's Home Improvement for about $1.25. The Great Sunflower Project also uses certain other flowers to build their data. It's simple to sign up, and a great thing to add to your garden plan!

Only 12 days to Earth Hour!

You can join people all over the globe showing that we appreciate our Earth. Just turn out the lights! For one hour, Saturday, March 27, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., local time. Last year, 80 million Americans flipped the switch. Even the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Eiffel Tower in Paris went dark.

Sign up as an individual or organization or business at The Official US Site for Earth Hour. Find out more ways you can get involved -- have a party, buy a t-shirt, get stuff for kids and more. On the site from now through March 27 you'll be able to see videos and slides of other countries in the Earth Hour news.

Two schools in South Carolina are participating so far, along with 7 organizations, including a Homeowners Association, and 8 businesses. In North Carolina, cities signing up so far are Dillsboro, City of Winston-Salem, Carrboro, and Fayetteville. There are also 18 schools, 8 universities, and 32 businesses. Seven organizations have signed up, including the United States Marine Corps, a Cub Scout Pack, and the NC Zoo Society.

Georgia is an official Earth Hour State and will turn off the lights for an hour at the State Capitol. There are 23 states making the commitment, including Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Maryland. We would love to see the Carolinas on the list. Okay, let's tell our governors and other elected officials that we want to join the party!