Earth Day, the 2022 edition, was firmly taking root at Marilla Park on Friday, and William was right there.
“We have bees at my house,” the 4-year-old said. “And spiders.”
“And we watch out for ‘em, right?” asked his mom, Lena Swiger. “You and Aiden.”
Aiden is William’s big brother, and the pair, Swiger said, spend just about every minute outdoors that they can — Earth Day, and every day.
“We’re always planting and talking about the environment,” she said.
“This is the time to do that, when they’re young,” she continued. “This is their planet, and they’ll want to take care of it.”
Heather Tanton smiled and gave an Earth Day amen to that.
Tanton is a WVU 4-H extension agent who was there for the morning, dispatched with materials and instructions on how to make seed planters, granola-style mix for bird feeders, and more.
The park in Sabraton was one of four stops for the day, she said.
4-H was even taking to an Earth Day After: She and her fellow extension agents were set Saturday to host a number of activities along the rail-trail.
Earth Day was front and center on Friday, though. Representatives from the Morgantown Public Library and the Service League of Morgantown were also at Marilla for the 52nd anniversary of the environmental happening that came out of the 1960s — and that period’s renewed awareness of all things pertaining to the land.
The first Earth Day was observed in 1970 when American factories were still humming. Tanton always thinks about what happened the year before on the water in Cleveland.
In 1969, the Cuyahoga River, which bisects the Ohio city three hours north of Morgantown, actually caught on fire — as it was so clogged and choked with trash then, from debris and the chemical output of all the factories spewing forth.
“Now that was a polluted river,” she said.
Trash bobbing along the surface of the Cuyahoga was a big reason for the aquatic combustibility, Tanton said.
Which was part of a teachable moment at Marilla.
The best way to knock back trash, said Kirsten Nelson, a family service specialist with Mon Schools Head Start, is by recycling.
“We’re showing them that you don’t always have to go out and ‘buy things,’” she said.
“You can take an item you might have thrown away before and repurpose it. You can make something new out of it.”
Meanwhile, you can learn more about the Mon school district’s other Head Start offerings by calling 304-291-9330.
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