April 12, 2023
The City of Lawrence is excited to celebrate Earth Day 2023 with community-wide activities throughout the month. This year’s Earth Day theme is “Invest In Our Planet,” which highlights the importance of dedicating our time, resources and energy to solving climate change and other environmental issues.
Throughout April, the City will join our community in commemorating Earth Month with educational activities, volunteer events and more. United together, we’ll drive a year of energy, enthusiasm and commitment to a sustainable and equitable future for our planet.
The Earth Day Fair will be from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 22 at South Park. Co-hosted by Watkins Museum of History and the City of Lawrence, the Earth Day Fair will include a wide range of crafts, activities and information about our planet’s amazing natural resources and how we can protect them. And Lawrence Transit will be on-site with one of their electric buses! A full list of participating organizations and activities is on the Watkins Museum of History website.
Check out the list below or visit our Earth Day webpage, lawrenceks.org/earth-day, for additional Earth Month activities and events!
- Take a tree tour of South Park or Lawrence Rotary Arboretum. Together these sites are home to more than 50 species of trees! Access an interactive map of each site to take a self-guided tour. How many species can you find?
- Cans for the Community celebrates Earth Day the entire month of April! The goal is to recycle 5,000 pounds of aluminum cans and donate all proceeds to the USD 497 elementary schools. You can help by dropping off aluminum cans at one of the “can houses”. Locations are listed on the Cans for the Community website.
- 9th Annual Kansas River Cleanup (April 22 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.). Celebrate Earth Month by giving back to the Kansas River! Join Friends of the Kaw and partners (The Nature Conservancy, City of Lawrence, and The Merc Coop) to clean up the riverbank below Bowersock dam. Please RSVP on the Friends of the Kaw website.
- Come celebrate our wonderful planet at Prairie Park Nature Center’s free Earth Day event (April 22 from 10 a.m. to 1p.m.)! Bring the whole family to enjoy three exciting animal programs, a seed bomb catapult, crafts, carnival game with Earth-friendly prizes and gift cards, and Natural Grocers giveaways!
The City of Lawrence has a deep respect for our place in relationship with the planet and environment. We consider this commitment in our work every day, and Earth Day reminds us to raise awareness of the need to protect Earth’s resources for future generations.
Contact: Kathy Richardson, Sustainability Director, krichardson@lawrenceks.org