Earth Day is Sunday, April 22, but celebrations kick off in Aspen on Thursday.
The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) is teaming up with retailer Outdoor Voices to start off Earth Day festivities with a community cleanup Thursday afternoon, beginning at 3:30. The mantra for this year’s Earth Day is End Plastic Pollution; participants in the Aspen cleanup will focus on micro-trash, tiny bits of garbage like bottle caps and paper scraps.
The City of Aspen and the Pitkin County Landfill are co-sponsoring a celebration Thursday evening at 5 with ACES at Hallam Lake. That will include a bike-powered blender and local food and drinks.
The Roaring Fork Conservancy keeps the clean-up theme going on Saturday with the annual Fryingpan River cleanup.
On Earth Day itself, kids of all ages can learn about pollution’s effect on groundwater by building their own wells at the Pitkin County Library. The non-profit Aspen TREE, which is changing its name to the Farm Collaborative, is celebrating the groundbreaking of its new Farm Park at Cozy Point Open Space with a community tree planting, live music, and baby animals.
There’s also an Earth Day Fair at the Basalt Regional Library on Monday, April 23.