Natick’s Earth Day celebration will be held rain or shine in Natick Center on April 28, 11 AM to 3 PM. In the case of rain, the scheduled outdoor events will be moved to Common Street Spiritual, the Morse Institute Library, and the Town Hall.
After almost a decade of organizing Natick’s Earth Day festival, Pat Conaway has retired from the planning committee, and as with all changes in leadership, the new team will refocus the vision of the event. Besides the new logo, one focus, said David Mogolov, a member of the new organizing team, is to create a zero waste event by increasing on-site recycling and composting, utilizing supplies that can be reused and recycled, and working with vendors to ensure that all food, samples, and products offered are compostable or recyclable. No plastic or styrofoam would be used. “Many of the vendors are well versed in sustainable practices,” said Mogolov. “We are aiming for zero waste in 2020. For 2019, we are really close, but we’re not there yet.”
Another element of the celebration introduced this year is a series of Tent Talks, which will feature experts on various topics related to sustainability, such as pollination, solarization, climate resilience, composting, and home energy efficiency. A talk of about 10-20 minutes will be followed by a discussion among community members, and most of the speakers will also be available at vendor tables to answer further questions.
A free planetarium show will be offered inside Common Street Spiritual Center. Timed tickets for the shows will be available on arrival. As in previous years, several musical groups will perform, either on the Common or, in case of rain, in the Morse Institute Library. Signs and maps will be available with directions for locating vendors, talks, and performances if they need to be moved indoors, and volunteers will be present to direct people.
Mogolov said there will be a focus on “the reduction component, reducing packaging and products, in line with the mission of the event. We’ll discuss strategies for living more sustainable lives, and highlight the successes we have had over the past couple years on environmental issues.” Some of those successes include the passage of a resolution in 2018 to eliminate community wide greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, the installation of more than 700 public and private solar arrays, and the expansion of curbside composting services.
Issue Date:
April, 2019
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