PORT TOWNSEND — As many as 200 people gathered at the Port Townsend Community Center on Saturday to celebrate the world’s 42nd annual Earth Day by sharing information about ecology and making a commitment to the environment.
“This year’s Earth Day is more in the spirit of the original celebrations,” said former Port Townsend Mayor Kees Kolff.
“More people are in tune with the problems we are facing with the Earth and are seeking solutions.”
This year was the first time Earth Day was celebrated in conjunction with the Port Townsend Farmers Market, and the regular Saturday crowd spilled over to interact with a wide range of ecologically themed displays.
“This is a great partnership, and it will continue in the future,” said Will O’Donnell, market director.
Added Port Townsend Mayor David King: “It’s natural to associate Earth Day with the farmers market because the local food movement represents one of our core values, which is to take care of the environment.”
O’Donnell said he expected at least 2,000 people to attend the market this week — a summer crowd, which is generally larger than what occurs in the spring.
Recycling displays and booths with political and religious sponsorship were in evidence.
“Paying attention to the environment helps us to focus on the Earth issues that need to be addressed,” said David Erickson, who was at the booth manned by the Society of Friends, also known as Quakers.
“It is important to be reminded that the environment needs to be preserved,” Erickson said.
Some booths offered petitions for signatures to gather support for a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution to abolish “corporate personhood.”
The “bag monster” — a person dressed in plastic bags — walked through the crowd soliciting support for a measure to ban plastic bags in Port Townsend.
At a booth manned by the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill, signatures were being gathered in support of its biomass cogeneration project.
“We want to inform people that the project will be a good thing for Port Townsend,” said Yvonne Starkey, who was one of several mill employees in the booth.
“Once it is operating, there will be less air pollution than what we have today,” she said.
The mill’s $55 million expansion of its biomass facility — which burns wood waste to create electricity — has been opposed by a coalition of environmental groups, including the local PT AirWatchers group.
At 2 p.m., a bike parade left the market and traveled less than a mile for the grand opening of the ReCyclery, a nonprofit that encourages bike riding and teaches bike repair.
“This is a great venture,” said Kolff, who is on the ReCyclery’s board of directors.
“By getting people to ride more, we are helping them to reduce the carbon footprint, improve their health and save money.”
Beach cleanups were conducted throughout the Olympic Peninsula on Saturday, from the Hood Canal to the Pacific Coast.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
