Tuesday is Earth Day but most local environmental groups are waiting until Saturday to celebrate.
Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson founded the first Earth Day in the Spring of 1970. Soon after, Congress created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed laws that we now may take for granted like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
So do we really still need an Earth Day 55 years later? Yes, environmentalists say.
Selina Alcantar is outreach coordinator at Unity Gardens in South Bend. She sees Earth Day as being more about helping people understand their relationship with the natural environment.
"We're located on the west side of town," she said. "We have apartment complexes, factories, right in all the spaces near us but we are still that place that's green."
Annie Klehfoth, environmental projects coordinator at the Elkhart Environmental Center, agrees.
"You can look at it as like a celebratory day or just as a good reminder that hey, the environment is still there, and there are a lot of key connections that we have, even if we might forget about it sometimes," Klehfoth said.
Unity Gardens and the Elkhart Environmental Center are two of the area groups that have their free Earth Day events planned for Saturday.
The Unity Gardens event will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., starting with a clean-up of the site before moving on to surrounding streets and sidewalk areas. They'll also have live music, vendors, and a food truck.
The Elkhart Environmental Center event will go from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. That includes a free tree giveaway, a seeds and starters exchange, and food vendors.
