Saturday: Earth Day 2023 Events In Castro Valley, Hayward

CASTRO VALLEY, CA — Fifty-three years ago Saturday, planet warriors staged the first Earth Day, a celebration of eco-consciousness that now takes place in more than 190 countries and has grown to become the most widely observed nonreligious holiday in history.

In Castro Valley, a Creek Trail Beautification and Cleanup is planned. Cleanups are planned along Castro Valley Creek, Downtown, Center Street Overpass and Park and Ride, Dragonfly Park, Lake Chabot Regional Park, and Castro Valley Community Park. Registration is closed for some of the sites while others are still recruiting volunteers. Register now to participate.

In Hayward, events and cleanup will be held at Weekes Park and at the Hayward Shoreline. The Clean Water Program provided the information for these events:

• Weekes Park: Register The Annual Earth Day Citywide Clean-Up & Community Fair is a litter pick-up event hosted at Weekes Park. Volunteers come together to collect litter and abandoned debris in various neighborhoods throughout the City. The Annual Earth Day Citywide Clean-Up will take place on Saturday, April 22, 2023. After volunteers collect litter, there will be an Earth Day themed Community Fair at the park, with local organizations hosting booths with activities. Free lunch will be provided to volunteers who register via Eventbrite. If you are unable to make it to Weekes Park, but would like to organize a litter pick-up in your neighborhood or at your school on April 22nd, please contact Sustainability Specialist, Nicole Grucky at nicole.grucky@hayward-ca.gov. The City of Hayward can provide you tools like gloves, bags, and litter grabbers, and pick up your collected litter at the end of the day.
• Hayward Shoreline Beach Cleanup: Register We are so excited for Earth Day! If you would like to bring a group of 10 or more people, please register yourself and then call us at (510)544-2229 or email Volunteers@ebparks.org Participants over 2 years old are encouraged to wear masks and attempt to maintain 6 ft of distance. Please check in with staff near the trail head at the end of West Winton Road- look for signs. Please do not show up to your Volunteer event if you are showing ANY symptoms of illness!
  
  The Earth Day Clean-Up and Recycles Day event has brought together 500 to 1,000 community volunteers every year to help with projects all around Castro Valley. Many Castro Valley schools also join the effort with staff, students, and family. Volunteers work together to beautify school campuses and clean up and enhance Castro Valley’s beautiful parks. Earth Day events puts into practice CVSan’s vision statement to practice environmental stewardship and to protect our resources.

The modern environmental movement that began 53 years ago has brought about a sea change in how Americans view climate change, and many now regard it as an existential crisis. This year’s theme is “Invest In Our Planet,” a prod to governments, businesses, institutions and the 1 billion Earth Day participant to devote their resources to fighting climate change.

Earth Week officially kicked off Friday. A live series continuing through the week touches on a variety of urgent issues, from climate restoration, regenerative agriculture, environment and social justice, supply chain resilience, plastic pollution, resource scarcity, food security, the green economy, biodiversity restoration, universal climate literacy, and others.

Panelists range from public and private sector leaders to activists, scientists, influencers and beyond.

Here are some things you can do on your own:

1. Don’t Drive; Walk Or Bike Instead

Did you know that parking the car and walking or biking to where you need to get in Castro Valley or Hayward would significantly reduce your carbon footprint?

That’s according to an Imperial College London study published in the journal Global Environmental Change. The study, the first to look at how lifestyle changes can reduce carbon emissions, found that was the case even in European cities where many people already walk and cycle to their destinations.

2. Plant Some Trees

If everyone in Castro Valley and Hayward joined with billions of others and planted a tree, an area the size of the United States could be reforested, increasing the world’s tree canopy by a third without disrupting agriculture or city development, and blotting out about 100 years of carbon emissions.

That’s according to “The global tree restoration potential,” the first study ever to look at how many trees the planet can support.

“Our study clearly shows that forest reforestation is the best climate change solution available today,” lead author of the study, ETH Zürich researcher Tom Crowther, said in a statement to National Geographic.

However, National Geographic said it could take more than 100 years to add enough mature forest to achieve significant carbon reduction, especially as about 40 billion tons of carbon dioxide — the result of burning fossil fuels — are added to the atmosphere every year, Glen Peters, research director at Norway’s Center for International Climate Research, told National Geographic.

3. Don't Buy Fast Fashion

The average American discards 80 pounds of clothing a year, and 85 percent of it ends up in landfills, where the material used to make it produces methane. Although carbon dioxide has a longer lasting effect on climate change, methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.

One way to offset that is to stop buying cheap, trendy fashion that goes out of style quickly, according to Columbia Climate School at Columbia University. It’s often shipped from low-wage countries overseas, so the use of fossil fuels to get it here also adds to a person’s individual carbon footprint.

A more sustainable approach is to buy higher-quality, U.S.-manufactured clothing. Or even better, Columbia Climate School advises, buy vintage or recycled clothing at thrift and consignment stores around Castro Valley and Hayward or upcycle unwanted clothing in some other way.