May 5th 2019, Earth day Festival
ROSELAND, NJ — Despite the rain, hundreds of residents from Essex county gathered at the environmental center to celebrate Earth Day on Saturday, the 27th of April. Various demonstrations and activities at the festival were geared towards educating children on the importance of the environment and the current problems it faces.
Some of these displays like the reptile show, were designed to present kids with the different types of animals that were being endangered by issues like climate change and deforestation. While others were meant to display the impact of pollution.
At the very back of the festival, a woman with bright red hair, held up a baby alligator while the crowd of elementary school students shrieked in front of her. The children were mesmerized by the scaly creature before them as she spoke about plastics in the ocean.
The generational gap between the demonstrators and the intended audience may have been to large for the message to be received. Many of the children in attendance of the festival were between the ages of 3 to 12, and the demonstrators were around 35–70 and above.
Ron Pate was there to represent The Sierra Club, an environmental organization dedicated to the preservation of habitats and sustainable energy education. Pate felt very strongly about the world his generation would leave behind for his children and theirs. He spoke about his disdain for the after-effects of non-renewable energy sources and how they are, in his opinion, ignored by the government.
“Coal is not 40 dollars a ton, it’s four hundred dollars a ton,” he said. “… ’cause when you take in the health effects, the pollution effects, how many people have asthma now-a-days,” he continued. “…They just don’t care.”
He was there along with a few of his colleagues. They brought with them different types of wasp and bee hives to teach kids how to identify good bugs versus potentially harmful ones. A small crowd of children gathered in front of the table poking at the large insect nests before them. One young girl looked to the three men before her, and asked if bees laid eggs.
The dome shaped greenhouse across the courtyard, was where Bethany Stevens, an environmental center volunteer was stationed. Inside she explained to a father and his two sons about the solar panels on the roof; and how they were powering the small fountain inside of the structure.
The inside of the greenhouse was lined by a large continuous basin filled with various planted produce and flowers. Stevens said the green house was a visual representation of how the sun and earth provide life to all.
“Well for the kids that come through, it’s to teach them how we’re gonna make the earth livable for them,” she said. “Some of them have never seen a vegetable outside of a package or a can,” she continued. “So, they see the broccoli growing and see that the earth gives us life.”
After which the younger of the two boys pulled on his father’s shirt and asked if they could go to the goat petting zoo. This was also where the 4H Club was spreading awareness and information about their clubs and various involvement opportunities for kids and parents alike.
The 4H Club is a nationwide organization based in schools or community centers, that allows students k-12 to explore the worlds of science, art, STEM, livestock-rearing, lego building and dozens of other programs.
One such branch of the 4H club was the, new to Essex county, Goat Club. Like the other programs, Goat Club exposes kids who may not have ever interacted with livestock animals before, to the responsibilities and expectations of caring for these animals.
The director of the Essex county Goat Club and former member of a Texan 4H club, Pam Robinson, explained the importance distinguishing the difference between family and factory farming.
“Farming went from a way of life to a toxic form of consumerism,” she said. “Kids now-a-days don’t realize how much goes into the food on their plates,” she continued. “I just hope someday, we grow more food than we buy at the store.”
Pate, Stevens, Robinson and many other demonstrators could only hope that the concerns, messages, and lessons they expressed in the various sections of the Earth Day festival made an impact on some of the kids who attended. And that they were not trumped in memory by the “Make Your Own Slime” table.
This is a story I had written for a class last year and really liked but never posted because I thought I had lost it, but ah ha! It has been found :)
