4/25/20 Earth Day EVENT
A Preliminary status report – Coralville Earth Day Celebration,
April 25, 2020 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
-On this 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, with interconnected crises of climate change, species extinctions, and violence looming, we are eager to reach out to our neighbors (youngest to oldest, of all backgrounds, interests and skills) and enlist them in efforts to restore and revitalize our shared environment and future.
– Thanks to the support of the City of Coralville and management of the Marriott, the event will be set up to start in front of the Intermodal facility then meander along the restored wetland path along and behind the Marriott in Coralville on the theme of “Pathways to Making Everyday Earth Day.” This will be a family friendly event endeavoring to create a more just, healthy, and habitable future.
– As with all prior Earth Day events, we plan to simultaneously entertain, educate, engage and inspire the general public by hosting and highlighting the people and organizations that appeal to our youngest children and inform our neighbors about all the wonderful shared resources and expertise available here in Johnson County. This year however, we are going several steps further to make caring for our only home a conscious every day event for the whole community.
– We’re asking participating exhibitors to prepare educational materials and provide interactive activities highlighting their programs, but also, wherever and whenever possible, to actively work to recruit and integrate volunteers in their activities during the year–anything from tree planting, river clean up, and public garden management, to agreeing to lobby or write and ask stakeholders to support earth friendly, environmentally just programs, policies, and legislation. The ideas for how people can commit to making Earth Day Every Day are only limited by our collective imaginations.
– We’re working within a frame wherein we’ll be one of several local Earth Day events. Sharing plans and information, coordinating and highlighting our mutually reinforcing efforts throughout this important weekend will create an atmosphere of win-win for all involved.
– There’s much more to share, much more to do between now and the 25th, but too much to write in one update. We need to enlarge the group working to bring this plan to life. Please let me know if you have questions, ideas, or resources to contribute. Thank you all for your great work for our shared and only home. Most sincerely, Maureen
Maureen McCue MD PhD Global Health Studies Center for Human Rights
UI International Programs
Coordinator Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility
319-828-4789 (H)
319-828-9911 (F) mickiq@earthlink.net http://www.psriowa.org