'See the initiatives coming through': Town of Carrboro celebrates Earth Day

As winds reached over 20 miles an hour on Sunday, vendors taped flyers down to their tables, and community members strolled along Weaver Street, which had been closed to cars since noon. Cheerful music from local performers, including Meadowlark Joy and Bear Roots, could be heard down the street.

Over 30 stands had been set up for the Town of Carrboro’s annual Earth Day celebration. Children could scale a 28-foot rock climbing wall, while parents had the opportunity to chat with Town planners about sustainability initiatives. Various booths offered information on composting, wetland protection and green transportation options.

The celebration also featured many other educational activities for children, ranging from pottery to edible plant identification and vermicomposting.

"A lot of different organizations are coming together, to just inform, which I think is really cool," Bri Hernandez, a UNC graduate student and Chapel Hill resident, said.

This year, the theme for the Earth Day celebration is "Our Power, Our Planet." In a press release, the Town encouraged residents to attend the celebration and take action to better the environment and emphasized the power of grassroots movements.

“You can't fix everything,” Carrboro Stormwater Specialist Heather Holley said. “But you can do something in your backyard, you can do something in your neighborhood, and that helps people feel a little more in control in an otherwise uncontrollable type of situation.”

Holley also works with Citizen Science, a program that encourages community members to participate in local scientific research. She said the data collected from community members’ participation helps municipalities shape its programs and policies, as well as inform residents of problems and solutions.

Andrés Otero, planner of Safe Routes to School at Central Pines Regional Council, said events like the Earth Day celebration are a great opportunity to educate the public about safe walking and bicycling practices. 

The community’s attitude and approach toward safety practices is crucial to raising awareness about them, he said, there is only so much work organizations can do since the Town infrastructure does not allow for kids to safely walk and bike to school.

At the event, the community transformed a parking lot on Weaver Street into a chalk-covered traffic garden and bicycle rodeo. Otero said the structures were meant to demonstrate safe bicycling skills through different stations.

Two of the bicycle station participants were Carrboro residents Jeremy O’Connor and his daughter Finn. He said they attended the celebration to support his wife’s plant stand and to see the different organizations and work being done toward sustaining the environment. 

“We believe pretty strongly in the need to be smarter with our climate and ecology around here,” O’Connor said. 

Abigail Keller, an organizing fellow for the North Carolina Conservation Network, said the Chapel Hill and Carrboro community is very easy to advertise to. A lot of community members are involved and conscious of their actions and how it affects the environment, she said.

“Compared to where I grew up, it's so much,” Hernandez said. “There's just so much more information being spread, and you see the initiatives coming through.”

Any work worth doing is best when centered around the fact that we share resources as a community, Otero said.

“I think the most blatant example of that is that we share one planet, and it ain't getting any healthier as of right now,” he said.

Editor's note: Abigail Keller is a former City & State writer.

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