Earth Fair a Success

Our Earth Fair last Friday was a wonderful success. THANKS to all the kids who worked so hard creating beautiful, informative, and inspiring displays. And THANKS to the Mission Trail Library, especially Manager Jennie Jackson, for her hospitality and the use of the Community Room.

I hope to get some photos uploaded soon of the Young Naturalists with their displays, but for now I'll describe them as well as I can and share some of what I learned. For the sake of privacy, I'll just use initials of the kids.

One of the favorite exhibits was a vermiculture display shared by 5-y-o G.B. Kids were thrilled to take turns holding the special live guests--worms--and to learn about how they turn kitchen waste into precious garden soil.

C.F. shared a tri-fold poster full of data and photographs regarding soil and hazardous waste. He included photos and samples of earth-friendly cleaning products and toilet paper, giving visitors a very practical and simple way to help protect the environment!

A Lake Elsinore family created a display titled "Not in My Backyard" which featured numerous photographs of the trash dumped in their own backyard (they live on acreage behind an elementary school). These kids called for action to prevent dumping in their own community and plan to launch a local anti-dumping campaign in the upcoming months.

A six-year-old homeschool girl complemented her own anti-litter poster display with a couple of dioramas featuring wildlife (including an "ocean" scene with water!), while a portable DVD player played her home-made movie. Her "Nature Saver" video portrayed young girls on a picnic (played by dolls). When one friend litters, the other friends kindly explain why litter might harm wildlife and also makes nature less beautiful. The litter-bug is convinced to be a "Nature Saver" too and vows not to litter any more!

E.C. created a hands-on-fun & learning display about choosing earth-friendly toys. His exhibit explained why it's important to choose well-made toys, avoid toys with excess packaging and cheap plastic toys that break and become trash. He included sample toys and visiting kids enjoyed playing with the traditional wooden toys like Jacob's ladder or blocks and a few other toys that last from generation to generation in both quality and appeal.

L.C. created a visually appealing display on the effects of litter on wildlife, specifically styrofoam and plastic bag litter on ocean animals. Her display included a compelling photo of a dissected bird whose stomach was full of all kinds of trash. She also explained that turtles and other ocean wildlife will often eat bits of styrofoam or mistake a plastic bag for a jellyfish, and this will often kill them. [The weekend after our Earth Fair my family visited Doheny State Beach and we kept picking up balloons, bags, styrofoam cups, etc. off the beach as we enjoyed a fantastic display of pelicans and other beach birds.]

Alden (my son) offered a display on the relationship between increased cell phone usage and habitat loss in Africa. A few months ago he was bugging me about getting his own cell phone because so many of his friends have one. When he was unconvinced by the mere fact that he is only nine and I don't intend for him to have a cell phone until he drives a car, I shared a little of what I had recently learned about mining for the ore that's used in cell phones and how gorillas, elephants, and other wildlife are rapidly loosing habitat partially because of the incredible demand for this ore. He immediately vowed NEVER to have a cell phone (we'll see about that) and then decided to educate others about reducing demand for cell phones by recycling and resisting the urge to upgrade for each new feature offered by cell phone companies.

Lydia created an impassioned poster urging people to "save the rainforest" by eating less beef, using less paper and oil, and recycling cell phones. She had to explain to visitors the relationship between the beef industry and deforestation and a few other issues (a lot for a 5-year-old, I admit, but she was eager to share the complexities with any interested listener.)

We had several homeschool visitors and a few people from the general public stop by. An elder couple stayed for at least an hour, poring over each exhibit with great interest and asking questions of the kids. We sure appreciated their interest and appreciation of our work!

We are excited to take this display "on the road" for another opportunity. We'll be sharing our displays at another community Earth Festival on May 20 at Lake Skinner. This event will be from 11:00 to 4:00 and is sponsored by the Resource Conservation District, Southwest Riverside County Multispecies Reserve, and Riverside County Parks. Besides our exhibit, there will be live animals and music, solar cup event at the lake, hybrid cars, composting information, and more. See you at the Lake!