For a complete Earth Day schedule visit: http://www.coa.edu/html/earthday.htm

C ollege of the Atlantic's annual Earth Day festival is a time when folks from around the state come to the campus of this earth- friendly college to celebrate a sustainable life. This year's event, planned for Saturday, April 19, features a day of activities for children and adults, including numerous booths offering information about how to live lightly on the earth-and special ways of rejoicing in what our region-and our planet offers.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. tents on the college's north lawn offer booths, workshops, sustainable crafts, children's events, food vendors with healthy foods, as well as nature activities in and around the George B. Dorr Museum-which is open for free on this special day. Plants from COA's greenhouse are on sale, as are books, courtesy of the college's Thorndike Library. For the night owl, a music festival in the college's Gates Center begins at 9 p.m. All events are free.

This year's theme is "Made on Earth, celebrating local communities, goods and ideas." Listen to musicians, join a theater workshop, learn felting-wet or dry, view an exhibit of COA alumni artists, or one of a student's appreciation of those who helped her through cancer. Learn how to make greens sprout from the tops of carrots and turnips, or how to sing an array of earth songs from around the world. You can even get a massage courtesy of Acadia School of Massage.

Children can do yoga, join a parade sporting costumes and musical instruments they have created from recycled goods, paint a mural, be painted themselves, play field games. Young and old can pet and admire animals from Mandala Farm of Gouldsboro, and finger some amazing creatures from down deep, thanks to Diver Ed's special touch tank. Living a life that's friendly to the earth is a lot about cherishing the resources it offers.

Worried about going hungry? Local food purveyors offer everything from salads, free-range barbeque and snacks to root vegetable latkes with cranberry chutneys. For dessert, enjoy smoothies, homemade ice cream and cakes.

Public school representatives-students, maintenance workers and teachers-are sharing endeavors to make their schools more sustainable, from changing to green cleaning products to adding solar panels.

The keynote speaker is Darrell Collins a 1992 alumnus of College of the Atlantic who now works for the World Wildlife Fund preserving habitat both in Mongolia and southeastern United States. He presents his major address on "Earth Day Today," at 1:15. At 2:30 p.m., talks about his work in Mongolia, "Fishing to Save the Fish."
 
All activities are free. Overflow parking is available at the Edenbrook Motel. As is the case with all COA events, the college will offset any carbon emissions resulting from travel to campus. For more information about any of these activities, please call 288-5015, ext. 254 or visit www.coa.edu/earthday.

PHOTO CREDITS:
Photos by Toby Hollis for College of the Atlantic