Earth Day 2009 - festivites at Oscar Scherer State Park

Heartful Art, Hypnosis Venice, The Key West Cat Society and The Venice Cat Coalition will celebrate Earth Day on Sunday, April 19th (10am - 5pm) at the 20th Annual Earth Day Festival at Oscar Scherer State Park in Osprey, Florida.

FYI:

Earth Day is always observed on April 22. International Earth Day is celebrated on the March equinox.

Reason We Celebrate Earth Day: To call attention to the environment.

History of Earth Day:
- Former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson was Earth Day's co-founder.
- The first Earth Day was in April 22, 1970.
- Senator Nelson got the name after reading about San Francisco’s Earth Day celebration which was held on March 21, 1970.

Earth Hour Around the Globe - pics via The Big Picture

Started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour quickly grew into a global observance. More than 1,000 cities in over 80 countries observed Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday March 28th, as homes, office towers and landmarks turned off their lights for an hour starting at 8.30 pm local time to raise awareness about climate change and the threat from rising greenhouse gas emissions. Check out the pictures in javascript of cities and monuments going black via Alan Taylor's The Big Picture.

In Venice, Florida, I did my part and sat in the dark with the light of a candle and a smiley-faced crescent moon to light my journal as I wrote a stream of consciousness for 45 minutes of the hour. The last fifteen minutes I blew out the candle and meditated on global peace, harmony and wellness from the micro to the macro, from the core of the earth to the highest realms of spirit.

Note from the future: Ten years later and I'm still doing this every year. In 2019, 188 countries participated to inspire urgent action for the environment. Join us next year on Saturday, March 28, 2020 8:30pm local time.