Earth Day | Friends of Virgin Islands National Park

EARTH DAY : APRIL 22, 2021

Let’s plant, learn, and clean up together!

Please join the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park's 11th annual Earth Day celebration! Each year Friends puts together the annual environmental fair commemorating Earth Day and focusing on our ability to work and live sustainably in the Virgin Islands. This year we remain partially virtual but no less committed to encouraging good environmental stewardship.

Our theme is Leave Only Bubbles as we aim to help address the issue of trash buildup in the park. Our partners in the National Park Service's resources should be focused on conservation and not consumed by waste management! We encourage everyone to Pack It In, Pack It Out and only use the park garbage bins if absolutely necessary. Thank you for doing your part to keep our park clean!

EVENT SCHEDULE

COMMUNITY TREE GIVEAWAY

Thursday, April 22: 8:00-9:30am

National Park Pavilion in front of the Visitors Center, Cruz Bay.

In partnership with the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, we will be giving away 300 tree saplings on a first come, first served basis with a limit of one plant per person.

STUDENT EARTH DAY VIRTUAL SEMINARS

The Friends Earth Day Fair has always been about engaging the environmental stewards of the future, our children. This year, Friends will host a line-up of three fun educational seminars for kids of all ages! All seminars will be recorded and available on the Friends website later in the week.

Thursday, April 22

10:00-10:30am: Let’s Talk Turtles!

Learn about the sea turtles in our waters with Adren Anderson and Willow Melamet, our Sea Turtle Program Managers. This kid oriented presentation is on all things sea turtles. From what turtles call St. John home, to a brief life-history of the species and the adaptations that make sea turtles unique!

To receive Zoom call info please register for Let's Talk Turtles here.

11:00-11:30am: Aluminum Can Recycling. How Does It Work?

Island Green Living Association Is running a drop-off aluminum recycling program for St. John, where anyone can drop off cans at any time at our facility on Gifft Hill road. We have to sort through the bags of cans to ensure that no glass, plastic, or trash are mixed into the recycling stream and then we compact the cans together into bricks. These bricks of aluminum are stacked together and shipped off island to companies that will melt and recycle them into new aluminum products! Learn how it's done with Anthony Novelli of Island Green Living.

To receive Zoom call info please register for the Recycling talk here.

12:00-12:30pm: Earth Day Story Time

With Aariyah Athanase, Education Outreach Coordinator, Friends of VINP, we'll be reading One Lucky Duck by Elaine Estern and a story by a XhianVenz D. Refil (Lockart Elementary in St Thomas) from The Butterfly Storybook 2020 at reading level kindergarten to second grade.

To receive Zoom call info please register for Story Time here.

TRASH PICK UP

Let’s get dirty and keep our beaches, our trails, and our towns trash free!

Saturday, April 24 at 9:00am: We are partnering with Get Trashed and will have two locations:

VINP Visitors Center, Cruz Bay
John's Folly Institute, Coral Bay (CORAL BAY CLEANUP IS POSTPONED TO A DATE TBD)

Please wear green to celebrate and bring water, a mask, and a friend. Trash bags and gloves will be provided. Please place full bags and garbage in trash dumpsters and do not leave them beside park garbage bins.

All week from Monday April 19: Trash bags and gloves will be available from the Virgin Islands National Park Visitors Center in Cruz Bay for anyone wishing to pitch in and help in their own time. The Visitors Center is open Monday to Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm.

2021 Partners & Sponsors

John Hoeven

On Earth Day, we celebrate all the gifts the world and nature make available to us. We recognize our complete dependence on its bounty. And we acknowledge the need for good stewardship to preserve its fruits for future generations.