More than 300 people gather at Buckley Park for zero waste celebrations
Ruby Lewis (8, left) and Betty Hartley (7) from Durango Montessori School hold a banner on Main Avenue during the Earth Day Durango Species Parade on Saturday. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)
Jerry McBride
More than 300 vendors, residents and visitors gathered in the sunshine at Buckley Park on Saturday for Durango’s annual Earth Day celebration.
Prior to the party in the park, Durangos hosts its second annual Earth Day Species Parade, a walking parade on Main Avenue from University Avenue to 12th Street.
About 13 groups marched to the park at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Young and old participants alike wore colorful animal costumes to represent their respective organizations.
Earth Day Durango organizers carried their signature banners in the parade that read “Earth Day,” “1 Planet” and “1 Opportunity.”
Behind them, five members of the Durango Arboretum waved flags and held bouquets of colorful flowers.
Parade spectators and Durango residents Beth and Ayla Conners said they rode their bikes to Main Boulevard to enjoy the calm weather and watch the festivities at Buckley Park.
Sabrina Lopez dances with the Ballet Folklrico de Durango on the street during Durango’s 2nd Annual Species Parade on Earth Day. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)
Jerry McBride
‘We’re very eco-friendly,’ said Beth Connors, adding that she bikes to work and has reusable bags. We just want people to wake up and know that if we don’t make changes for (Ellas) generation or the next generation after her, the earth will definitely not be the same.
She said she was vegetarian, she composted, and planned to dry out her lawn. She uses an electric road bike to get around, but in the winter or when she goes paddling and needs to transport her equipment, she drives a truck.
She uses transportation that suits her needs, and her gas-guzzling truck isn’t always necessary.
“I try to be aware of that,” she said. I’m not sure that’s the case for everyone.
Ayla Conners said she hopes to learn a thing or two about sustainability in Durango on Saturday.
La Plata County Commissioners Martha Porter Norton and Matt Salka were spotted waving to spectators at the parade.
Participants in the Durango Earth Day Parade marched down Main Avenue on Saturday. About 13 groups are taking part in the march to Buckley Park, where festivities will continue throughout the afternoon. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)
Jerry McBride
Children and adults representing Durango Montessori schools wore gorilla and monkey costumes. Several young girls dressed up as ladybugs and bumblebees.
A man in Sasquatch costume leads the Great Old Broad Wilderness group.
Indivisible Durango, Mountain Institute and Durango Unitarian Universalist Fellowship also participated in the march.
Proponents of Proposition 91, which seeks to ban trophy hunting and trapping of mountain lions, bobcats and bobcats, attended the march with petitions in hand.
A group of cyclists followed. A girl riding on a children’s bicycle trailer shouted: Go Green Team!
Albuquerque resident Sara Wenz makes an early Mother’s Day weekend trip to Durango with friends every year. She has been married for 12 years, and she and her husband always plant a tree on or near Earth Day. Her husband has been doing it longer.
Aniston Schmidt, 11, left, Joel Valentelli, 11, center, and Skylar Rowe, 8, during Earth Day celebrations at Buckley Park on Saturday Zack is making floral art, tapping petals onto fabric. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)
Jerry McBride
“It’s a beautiful day, but it’s also because we love this planet,” she said. We love growing things…it makes us happy being outdoors.
Wentz and her husband always grew plants that would survive New Mexico’s arid climate.
Frank Dean, co-owner of 4 Corners Worm Farm, set up his stall and worms at Buckley Park on Saturday morning. He said just 10 pounds of worms can keep 1,000 pounds of trash out of landfills each year by eating trash.
He said if you feed them garbage it will turn it into the best soil. It’s all about microbiology and getting back to nature. The Great Plains had been there for several years before we showed up.
He also said overgrazing by buffalo herds has harmed the soil health of the Great Plains. Worms themselves are not the biggest contributor to soil health, but they do fall roughly in the middle of these factors.
The greatest contributors to soil health are microorganisms and fungi.
4 Corners Worm Farm co-owner Frank Dean displays hundreds of earthworms kept in a simple plastic storage box filled with soil. On Saturday, Earth Day in Durango, Dean set up a booth in Buckley Park to promote his earthworm farm in Cortez. (Christian Burney/Durango Herald)
Worms do not make the soil better. He said where the soil is good, the worms will go.
Only a few earthworm species are helpful in composting. They live in shallow soil, only 5 to 6 inches deep, and they eat soil and sediment that are nutritious to plants, he said.
The Durango Tool Library opened a repair cafe in the park on Sunday and will also be in the park on Saturday.
Tool Library’s Tenny Webster said the organization contributes to sustainability because it provides a shared tool resource that is well managed and maintained. These tools are in the library when people need them, and they get more use than personal tools gathering dust 363 days a year.
He said that as long as people share a common library of tools, they don’t have to go out and buy individual tools.
Kathleen Goller said people can rent up to eight tools at a time and gain access to the library through a membership. On Saturday, she and Webster were at the park celebrating Earth Day and recruiting new members.
cburney@durangoherald.com
Participants in the Durango Earth Day Parade marched down Main Avenue on Saturday. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald)
Jerry McBride
#Durango #people #tourists #gather #downtown #celebrate #Earth #Day
Image Source : www.durangoherald.com