Swinomish plan Earth Day activities

Earth Day is a global event that encourages people to act locally.

And those activities don’t have to be limited to April 22, the 54th anniversary of the day universally recognized as the start of the modern environmental movement.

The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community is a prime example.

On April 25, Earth Day initiatives start at 8 a.m., including a plant project at John K. Bob Ball Park, fish net recycling by the web shed off Moorage Way, tidying up at the rain garden and a general clean-up at Swedebs Park.

There will also be a noon potluck lunch at the Swinomish Boys & Girls Club Center and a 1 p.m. dedication at the 13 Moons Elder Garden.

In addition, large refuse containers will be placed around Swinomish Village for tribal use from April 22 to May 6.

While April 22 is recognized worldwide as Earth Day, it is celebrated in some venues on the spring equinox in March.

Or, in the case of Swinomish this year, it will be observed April 25.

Earth Day is an annual celebration raising awareness of the need to protect Earth’s natural resources for future generations. The day’s origin traces back to events in the 1960s when a focus on the environment emerged following an oil spill off Santa Barbara on the California coast and industrial spills that set the Cuyahoga River in Ohio on fire.

Inspired by those and other environmental disasters, U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin helped establish the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970.