Happy Earth Month and Earth Day!
I hope you can join some of these events and/or strive to make every day Earth Day.
Elaine
 Credit: Ayleah Hanton
Fairfax County Park Authority Earth Day Website
In honor of Earth Day, the Fairfax County Park Authority has launched a webpage to provide information and resources to encourage environmental stewardship. The site is now live – just in time for Earth Day on April 22, 2022.
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Earth Day Walk to School Day
Students and staff can promote climate friendly travel to celebrate Earth Week or any day. This could be choosing to walk, bike, ride the bus, car pool or remote park and walk in from a short distance away from campus. Our schools continue to see a high demand in the kiss and ride line and in many cases it is one child getting out of one car. The rise in gas prices is another incentive to choose walking and biking short distances rather than using the car. This year's theme is “invest in our planet.” There are lots of activities that can be found on the FCPS Get 2 Green website.
Celebrate FCPS Earth Week April 18-22
All students and staff are encouraged to join FCPS Get2Green in celebrating our division-wide Earth Week 2022 from April 18-22. Earth Week is an engaging way to foster conversation and learning about environmental topics that are essential in developing students as environmental stewards and ethical and global citizens.
Visit the Get2Green Earth Week webpage for this year’s Earth Week “Bingo” boards, daily themes, driving questions, joke of the day, and fun facts. Engage students with FCPS Earth Week Bingo boards for an opportunity to receive water bottle decals for staff and students
 Earth Week 2022 Themes
Students and Staff wear the color matching each day’s theme to show your Earth Week spirit!
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Friday, April 22 – Earth Day (green)
Fun Facts on Water
- Fairfax County is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which is home to over 18 million people and 3,600 species of plants and animals from Virginia to New York.
- Only 1% of the Earth’s water supply is fresh water available for human needs. Saltwater sources make up 97% of the Earth’s water supply and another 2% is locked in ice caps and glaciers.
- Nine in ten watershed residents never toss food wrappers, cups or cigarette butts on the ground. Almost eight in ten watershed residents pick up litter when they see it.
- The average American uses 80-100 gallons of water per day.
Fun Facts on Energy
- FCPS spends over $33 million on energy each year.
- K-12 school districts in the United States spend $6 billion on energy annually.
- In some parts of the world, cow dung is used to create energy.
- In 2018, natural gas fueled 53% of Virginia's electricity net generation, nuclear power provided almost 31%, coal fueled about 10% and renewable resources, primarily biomass, supplied nearly 7%.
All sources provided on the FCPS Get 2 Green website.
A few Earth Week jokes
- Q: Why do seagulls fly over the sea?
- A: Because if they flew over the bay they would be Bagels!
- Q: What did the ocean say to the beach?
- A: Nothing, it just waved.
- Q: Why did the sun go to school?
What goes in the FCPS recycling bins?
- Mixed paper (except glossy paper used in products such as magazines)
- Cardboard
- Plastics #1 and 2
- Aluminum and tin cans
Learn more about FCPS recycling here.
Expanded Food Scraps Compost Pilot Program
Collect your food scraps at home and bring them to one of the markets listed below. Use something like an old coffee container, food storage container or a compost caddy that is specially designed to hold food scraps. Drop off your food scraps and then shop at the farmers market for fresh produce!
Food scrap drop off is available only during regular market hours. Please do not drop off scraps when the market is closed. More information found here.
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Mount Vernon Farmers Market
Wednesday | 8 a.m. to noon | Beginning April 20
2501 Sherwood Hall Lane
Alexandria, VA, 22306
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Herndon Farmers Market
Thursday | 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. | Beginning April 28
765 Lynn St.
Herndon, VA 20170
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Kingstowne Farmers Market
Friday l 3 to 7 p.m. l Beginning on May 6
5844-5862 Kingstowne Center
Alexandria, VA 22315
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Burke Farmers Market
Saturday | 8 a.m. to noon | Beginning on April 16
5671 Roberts Parkway
Burke, VA 22015
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Mosaic District Farmers Market
Sunday | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Year round
2910 District Ave.
Fairfax, VA 22031
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EVENTS
April 23rd Stream Cleanup
Runnymede Park, 195 Herndon Parkway
Hosted by Clean Fairfax, the Saturday April 23 Stream Cleanup from 9 - 12 pm at Runnymede Park. Meet at Runnymede Park, 195 Herndon Parkway, for supplies and assignments, then work on your own to help care for one of the eleven parks or three trails in Herndon. For more information and to register, please go here.
Clean up the World Field Day!
At Turner Farm Park in Great Falls
4/23/2022 10:00 am or 4/23/2022 2:00 pm
(Age 4-Adult) Discover how you can help your planet as you play your way through fun games and activities. Beat the clock in Recycling Rendezvous, race against your family in Waste No Water Relay, test your mind in Lifespan of Litter, and more! Bring an old piece of clothing to repurpose into a cool new reusable bag. Children must be accompanied by a registered adult. Register Online
 Click on the photo to learn more.
Dark Sky Week - April 22 - 30
 The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors proclaimed April 22-30, 2022, as Dark Sky Week in Fairfax County. Dark skies are the historic and natural state of nature. Over time humans have increased the amount of light shining into the sky all night long. This disruption of excessive light has robbed us of our stars and endangered the nature around us. We can have dark skies again if we can learn to control light pollution with responsible outdoor lighting practices.
First Annual One Dark Hour
To participate in One Dark Hour, simply turn off your outdoor lights between 9 and 10 pm tomorrow, April 22, 2022. Then go out and look for stars. We encourage you to tell your neighbors to magnify the effect. More information here.
One Dark Hour at Turner Farm Observatory Park
Tomorrow, April 22, Observatory Park at Turner Farm will be open for a free Friday viewing session in observance of One Dark Hour. If it is raining or completely cloudy, the observation session will be postponed until April 29, 2022.
Inspiring Families and Youth with Environmental Actions
April 27 at 7pm
Come and join a conversation with professor, author, writer, economist and climate policy advisor Harriet Shugarman at the Volunteer Night for the Environment cohosted by Sierra Club- Great Falls Group and the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions . Climatemama’s Executive Director Harriet Shugarman will talk about environmental themes which include:
- How to maintain our own hope and that of our children
- A list of practical actions families can take to develop a zero waste lifestyle and to tackle the climate change crisis
- Ideas for helping children follow their passions in pursuit of a livable, just, and sustainable world.
- How have environmental groups successfully joined with youth and families to grow new volunteers for the future?
Thank you for all you do for the environment! Register here for this free event.
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2022 City Nature Challenge
Celebrate Earth Day by becoming a Citizen Scientist! Visit a Fairfax County park between April 29 and May 2, 2022, and make identifiable observations in the iNaturalist app. Submit your volunteer hours via our convenient online form. Access a report of your approved hours in our system and use them to fulfill requirements for scouts, schools and other organizations. Learn more here.
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The views contained within this newsletter reflect the views of the individual school board member who is the publisher of this newsletter and may not reflect the views of the Fairfax County School Board.
© 2022 Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County, Virginia
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