Earth Day is only less than a month away, so I decided to go out on the great World Wide Web and see what’s up in the Twin Cities.  But then I found so much, I decided to only do a selection!  However, I did take a lot of my ideas from this article about 2008 metro Earth Day events.  My thinking was that a lot of them are annual events, and they do seem to be.

And, all events are FREE!

Saturday, April 18, 2009

St. Thomas Green Team Mississippi River Cleanup

Saturday, April 18, 2009

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Help clean up the East banks of the Mississippi River.  Meet at the WWI Memorial at Summit Ave. and Mississippi River Blvd. in St. Paul.  More information here (it’s kind of in the middle).

2009 Minneapolis Earth Day Watershed Cleanup

Saturday, April 18

9:30 a.m. – noon

Sites all around Minneapolis will host a variety of events.  In 2008 people removed 22,500+ pounds of trash from Minneapolis waterways!  Two of the sites on the Mississippi are being run by Friends of the Mississippi River.

Midtown Global Market Earth Day

Saturday, April 18, 2009

11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

How to enact sustainable changes in your everyday life.  Lots of food things and prizes.

Watergate Marina Adopt-A-River Cleanup

Saturday, April 18, 2009

No time indicated.

Watergate Marina is in Crosby Farm Park in St. Paul.  No time is indicated for the cleanup but see the webpage.

Dodge Nature Center Earth Day Buckthorn Pull

Saturday, April 18, 2009

All Day

All ages welcome.

Other dates

Wishes for the Sky

Harriet Island

Sunday, April 19, 2009

10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Write a wish on a kite to be flown in the sky.  A public art event to celebrate Earth Day.

Como Park Go Green for Gorillas – Party for the Planet

Como Park, St. Paul

April 22, 25-26

Learn ways to protect gorillas and participate in a Party for the Planet.

Friends of the Mississippi River Earth Day Garlic Mustard Pull

Saturday, April 25, 2009

9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Help pull invasive garlic mustard at a section of the Mississippi in Inver Grove Heights.  Free, but pre-registration required.  All event details provided upon registration.

From the DNR website:

“Mark your calendar for a visit to any Minnesota State Park and Recreation Area for “The Great Minnesota Picnic” on Sunday, June 1. This is annual Open House Day when you can visit any of Minnesota’s 72 state parks and recreation areas for free – no permit is required. More information“

The library is the ultimate! When I lived in Mexico, I came to appreciate that libraries are a privilege and not everyone just has one. We all know there are books, but you can also get movies, magazines, online learning, programs, and probably more I don’t even know about. It is the pinnacle of frugal and green: lots of people sharing materials, rather than all buying copies – and all for free! How much more frugal can you get!?

I love the convenience: At the St. Paul Public Library (I’m sure at all of them, actually), once you have a card, you can search the whole catalog online and make online requests to pick up at the branch of your choice. I always choose Sun Ray so I can stop by on the way home from work, saving gas.

On top of that, there are a ton of services. One that is close to my heart is the online Rosetta Stone language learning access for patrons of SPPL. Using your card, you can access this service to learn Mandarin, English, French, Spanish, or Russian.

There is also the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM), which I have not played around with but looks awesome. Especially for kids, there is a ton of info here, and any resident of Minnesota can use it. As a teacher this is going in my mental file.

SPPL also offers a ton of free programming for people of all ages. I personally think the most fun one looks like PawPals, where kids read with “dog and human teams.”

Of course, you may be thinking, “Well, it seems free, but the money has to come from somewhere.” If you want to do your part, you can become a member of The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library. I just joined recently, feeling like since I am able to pay something, I should. If there’s a moment where I can’t, I’ll be overjoyed that this rich intellectual service is free for all.

What do you love about your library?

I just found this site called Community Connection Calendar. It has a good number of mostly free different kinds of events happening in the Cities. Browsing the calendar, it looks like as of today, the majority are politically-oriented, but some are related to the arts, literature, parenting, etc. This looks like it could become a really powerful tool for sharing events – and a neat way to learn something new – for FREE