What better way to celebrate Earth Day than with the planet’s amazing and diverse wildlife? ​

Join us for our annual Earth Day celebration featuring interpretive talks about many of the Zoo’s conservation initiatives, and how you can get involved with many Citizen Scientist programs throughout the state. In addition, there will be local vendors promoting organically produced products, information on companies utilizing green practices, performances by local musicians, and fun family games. Plans include a cleanup in Beardsley Park, and invasive plant removal with our Conservation Discovery Corps staff at the conservation pond.

Please scroll down to view the schedule for the weekend as well as a listing of our participating vendors. Or click here to download the schedule and vendor listing. 

Ways You Can Conserve at Home

1. Only wash full loads of laundry and dishes.  The average American uses 140-170 gallons of water per day.
2. Start a compost pile to dispose of food waste.
3. Stop using plastic straws and silverware and paper plates.  Plastic straws are among the top 10 contributors to marine debris pollution.
4. Turn my car off when idling.  Personal vehicle idling wastes about 3 billion gallons of fuel annually in the United States.
5. Use fewer paper towels.  Stop using paper towels and save $200/year.
6. Recycle glass, paper, plastic and cardboard.  Only about 34% of U.S. waste is recycled or composted.
7. Replace light bulbs with LEDS and energy efficient fluorescents.  LED bulbs use 70-90% less energy than regular bulbs and last up to 25 times longer.
8. Close shades during sunny days in summer and save up to $45.
9. Turn off the lights when leaving a room.  If you are going to be out of a room for 15 minutes or more, turn off the lights.
10. Reduce the air conditioning thermostat by 5 degrees.
11. Reduce your heating thermostat to by 2 degrees or lower when at home, lower when I am asleep or away, and save 5% of your heating bill.
12. Fix dripping faucets – one drop/second equals 8 gallons.  A leaky faucet can waste 100 gallons of water/day.
13. Avoid using household and garden chemicals.  Switch to organics!
14. Take a water bottle wherever I go.  Only 14% of plastic bottles are recycled.  Bottled water costs $10/gallon, more expensive than gasoline.
15. Use re-usable eco-bags instead of plastic.  A dead whale that recently washed up on a beach in Thailand had 80 plastic bags in its stomach.
16. Build a certified backyard wildlife habitat.
17. Turn off lights, electronics and appliances when not using them.  Standby power can account for 10% of the average household’s energy bill.
18. Take shorter showers – shorten by two minutes and save 5 gallons of water.  Showering and bathing are the largest individual uses (27%) of water.
19. Use a rain barrel to collect water to wash cars and feed plants.  Rain water can save the average homeowner 1,300 gallons of water per year.
20. Water my lawn before 10:00AM to reduce evaporation.
21. Make room for pollinators by planting the right plants.  Over 80% of the world’s flowering plants require a pollinator to reproduce.