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Earth Day embraces youth participation

The Fernie Heritage Library celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22 with a variety of activities catered to kids.
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Kids fished for information on Earth Day with educational activities provided by the Elk River Alliance at the Fernie Heritage Library.

The Fernie Heritage Library celebrated Earth Day on Wednesday, April 22 with a variety of activities catered to kids.

A scavenger hunt, face painting, button making, knowledge tests, colouring and a seed swap were just some of the things attendees could take part in at the library.

The Elk River Alliance was on hand to provide informative facts about the local river and BCHydro donated 1,000 blue spruce trees for attendees to take home and plant themselves.

“It’s been really great and a lot of kids have come out,” said Anie Hepher with the Fernie Library.

A popular stop to visit at the library was the Seed Swap.

Mary Cosman, Community Eco-Garden advisory committee member said that it was the tenth year the swap had taken place.

Visitors are invited to take a variety of seeds by donation to grow at home.

“We encourage people that, once they grow plants, they bring the seeds to next year’s swap,” said Cosman.

Cosman added that the benefits of the program allow people to produce seed that has been properly acclimated to the environment it was grown in and that by inviting people to partake in the program it helps with the rapidly diminishing variety of seeds worldwide.

In addition to the activities at the library, schools across the Columbia Basin were encouraged to take part in Earth Day through Wildsight’s Beyond Recycling program.

A 22-week, classroom-based program for Grades 4-7, Beyond Recycling focused on inspiring youth to begin make changes in their homes, schools and communities to better benefit the environment.

Recycled art projects, potlucks and flower painting were among the list of suggestions made to students.