Thursday is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and several area businesses and organizations are celebrating today and throughout the rest of the week by thinking green.
Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22, began in the United States in 1970 founded on the idea that all people have "a moral right to a healthy, sustainable environment," according to the Earth Day Network.
Among the local events planned to commemorate the day:
• Harry Cooper Supply's Branson showroom, just off Bee Creek Road east of U.S. Highway 65, is holding an Earth Day Show today 11 a.m.–6 p.m., featuring its green alternatives for electric, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and water treatment. The store is holding a half-hour seminar on ways to save energy and is giving away door prizes, including a 47-inch plasma TV.
• Ozarks Technical Community College’s Society for the Awareness of the Natural Environment, or SANE, is performing a waste audit on the school's café through 6:30 p.m. Organization members will sort and weigh the organic garbage generated in the restaurant, in conjunction with Custom Metalcraft and SolSource Teknologi. According to an OTC news release, the information will serve as a baseline for a potential composting consortium between OTC, Drury, Central High School and the Greene County Jail.
• BKD LLP is encouraging employees to bring in hard-to-recycle items to its lobby, 910 St. Louis St., such as cell phones and other small electronic items, batteries and phone books. The company also encourages those with larger items such as TVs and computers, as well as old paint, to take them to the Computer Recycling Center; BKD will cover recycling fees at the facility for BKD employees through Saturday.
BKD was recently awarded the Springfield-Greene County Choose Environmental Excellence Award for business, which recognizes companies making an environmental difference in our community.
• Hickory Hills elementary is holding an open house 1–5 p.m. to show off several green projects the students have worked on throughout the school year. The open house is the culmination of a weeklong effort to plant more than 1,500 donated plants and shrubs at the school, which is the Springfield R-XII School District's only Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified facility.
• The Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 2410 S. Scenic Ave., is holding its third annual Earth Day at the ReStore 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Saturday. The event will feature several local environmental organizations, as well as live music, free food and prizes, and a 50 percent sale all day on items in stock. The ReStore recycles building materials for use in new construction and remodeling projects.[[In-content Ad]]
