Earth Day 2013 will be celebrated on Monday, April 22, but Wildsight Kimberley/Cranbrook will be spending the entire weekend on Earth Day activities, all intended to provoke thought on climate change.
The idea, says Wildsight's Lars Sander-Green, is to get people thinking about climate change, and how small changes can lead to big things in terms of carbon footprint.
It begins with the film Chasing Ice, to be shown Friday, April 19, 7:30 p.m., at McKim Theatre in Kimberley and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Key City Theatre in Cranbrook. Admission to both is by donation.
The film, Sander-Green says, is a thought provoking look at decreasing ice around the world.
"A National Geographic photographer did an extreme ice survey. He has time lapse videos of decreasing ice. The film makes it real, you can really see the ice melting," Sander-Green said.
On Saturday, Wildsight will present introduction to composting workshops in both communities.
“Six per cent of B.C.’s greenhouse gas emissions are from landfills,” Sander-Green said. “If you compost, you aren’t producing that methane.”
Kimberley’s workshop will be at 11:30 a.m. at the allotment garden and Cranbrook’s will be at 3:30 p.m. at the public produce garden. Both are free, but please pre-register at wildsight.ca/compost.
There will be a few discounted RDEK composters available for sale at the workshops.
Wildsight will also be hosting open houses to demonstrate simple energy efficient upgrades that have been done to two homes.
“People can come and see some of the small things you can do to get on a pathway to lower emissions,” he said. “Residential heating is also a big contributor to emissions.”
Kimberley’s open house is on Saturday, from 2 to 4 p.m. at 721 5th Avenue, and Cranbrook’s on Sunday, same time at 321 12 Ave South.
Wildsight is also working with the Kootenay Carshare Co-op to bring car sharing to Cranbrook.
“All we need is six car share members to start a branch of the car share co-op. Potential members should get in touch with us,” said Sanders-Green.
“With the car share, the compost workshops and the home renovation demonstration project, we are giving locals options to reduce their carbon emissions in the three main personal emissions sectors: transportation, landfill waste, and home heating.”