Climate Day for Kids

On Saturday I organized a big Earth Day event at the Olympic Sculpture Park, called Climate Day for Kids. It was a great event, with more than 400 visitors. Thanks to everyone who came!

Seattle Art Museum partners with community organizations, and we were happy to host a number of wonderful groups on Saturday. At SAM's station families were invited to assess their carbon footprint using an online tool courtesy of Seattle Climate Action Now. Then participants used recycled materials to create a carbon footprint sculpture. Extending into the amphitheater, artist Mandy Greer taught visitors to crochet pieces for a 200 foot long river installation she is creating for display this summer in Seattle parks. Indoors, parents from CoolMom.org organized a fantastic recycled materials project to create cars and buses out of food cartons (so cute). They also organized two of the four performances in the Art Lab, a puppet show and storytelling. Worms and dirt stole the show at Sustainable Belltown's worm bin station. Pacific Science Center brought out their Van de Graaff generator and other electricity visuals, and closed out the event with a great demonstration. Seattle Climate Action Now offered giveaways, and presented the Shrinking Bigfoot assembly in partnership with Seattle City Light. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency offered a great display with tons of giveaways, TASTE showcased their sustainable food options, and Xeko invited visitors to try out their endangered species trading card game. Out front, University of Washington's Botanic Gardens introduced families to the importance of trees for the climate, and Feet First offered a scavenger hunt and visits from the Feet First Chicken!

Wow! This was the second time I have organized this event, and I have to say that it really lived up to my hopes. The art activities engaged families in making a committment to reduce their impact, while demonstrating green art making and offering suggestions on sustainable lifestyle strategies. I was thrilled to have performances and demonstrations to add to the festival-like stations, and it is always amazing to see the Pavilion activated and full on visitors. It really embodies the free, open to the public design of the park.

Happy Earth Month to all!