5 Earth Day 2021 Events for the Whole Family!

Earth Day is coming up this Thursday, April 22!

Although we believe every day is the best day to celebrate and fight for the future of our planet, this annual celebration offers an opportunity to connect with environmental activists across the globe, learn, and take action together.


This year, we wanted to highlight five family oriented action-filled events that are taking place both online and offline. Of course, all these events will be interesting and engaging for climate activists of all ages to participate. If none of these catches your eye, stay tuned until the end of the post for a link to hundreds of other free Earth Day events near you! 

1. Climate Action Crash Course Webinar Series

The organization Climate NOW, in partnership with youth activist Sarah Goody, is hosting this four-part webinar series specifically aimed at kids of different ages. These webinars are designed to inspire and equip kids to understand the climate crisis, the youth climate movement, and the ways they can take part. This event is free, but you need to register here to reserve your spot for the last webinar of the series on Thursday, April 22 at 4pm PST. 

 

2. (Re)Imagine Our World Together: StopWaste Schools Virtual Earth Day

The amazing Alameda county organization StopWaste is organizing a week’s worth of online celebrations in talks targeted at families and classrooms! This series will include talks from a variety of youth speakers alongside challenges, activities, and ways to take climate actions. Their kick off event is this Saturday, April 17th at 10am PST, and you can tune into their other talks every day of Earth Week from 5-6pm PST. These talks focus on themes like water & soil, art & action, waste reduction and community health. You can peruse each of these events on this webpage and register for the talks using this form!

3. Earth Day 2021 with the Watershed project

The Watershed Project is a Bay Area organization dedicated to spreading awareness about and protecting Bay Area Watersheds. They organized an Earth Day event to help you “Wander Around Your Watershed”, providing you with maps, different courses, historical checkpoints that explain natural and cultural history in Albany, and a raffle-prize scavenger hunt. If your family wants to enjoy this event from your house, they also have a virtual mapping activity, quizzes, and a trivia challenge to learn more. You can register for free here! This activity is available from April 15-April 30th

the watershed project

4. Monterey Bay Aquarium Activity Guides

These free activity guides from the Monterey Bay Aquarium are an exceptional tool for teaching environmental science topics at home or in the classroom. These guided activities are directed for kids ages K-12, and while they’re available year-round, Earth Day is an excellent opportunity to get educated about topics ranging from the scientific process to kelp forests. These activities sets contain a combination of virtual and in-person, outdoor activities, making it interactive and perfect for families looking to get off the screen. 

monterey bay aquarium earth day 2021

This screenshot from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Website introduces just one of the many activities available to parents and teachers! 

5. Heirs to the Ocean: Operation Global Sweep 

This action-packed activity is designed for kids to get outside, clean up plastic pollution, and feel a part of an international event that empowers youth activists. This global plastic sweep, organized by Heirs to Our Oceans, sets each “Secret Agent” on a mission to collect evidence of plastic pollution and determine the culprit (Coca Cola, Unilever, etc.) in order to hold them accountable. Once the Secret Agent collects their evidence, they can submit it to the “evidence room” and connect with a community of youth activists internationally. This is an excellent way to rethink environmental activism that puts the onus on corporations to reduce their plastic waste. The Operation Global Sweep takes place on the weekend of April 24th and 25th, register here

Bonus Experience: UPM Forest Life Virtual Forest Tour

For anyone who isn’t able to get out into nature this week, you can pretend you’re on a wilderness hike in the forests of Finland on this beautiful website. It lets you take high-quality, immersive virtual tours of a forest-- complete with birdsong and water sounds! As you walk along the path, you can learn about native plants, sustainable forestry practices, and the impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems. This experience is not specifically targeted at kids, but it is an awe-inspiring, relaxing, and informative site for anyone to enjoy. Link here! This is available year-round


If none of these look interesting, here’s a tool to find other events:  

Every year, the organization Earth Day sets a theme for the annual celebration and hosts webinars, conferences, and events. The theme this year is “Restore our Earth” and includes events for kids, talks about environmental justice, and more. They also have a tool on their website that lets you search local Earth Day events happening around you, lets you filter for virtual vs. in-person events, and provides information on how to register. The link to that tool is at this link, a little ways down the page. 

Happy Earth Week!

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