The project, named ‘Love the Beach’, is being supported by the California Coastal Commission’s Adopt-a-Beach program, which is providing gloves, trash receptacles and free parking for the event. For additional information, or to sign up as a sponsor, call Minniti at 276-3088, or email her at brianna2hot@gmail.com. Read more at The Long Beach Gazette.

Aversano, who is working with Greenpeace on the project, is looking to bring this to individual families as well, getting a few families together this summer for a trial run of the project. Aversano is also working with Courtney Cross and Christina Julian to make the project a reality. He says the project is flexible in its methods, supporting a wide variety of approaches to sustainability, including moving to paperless bill paying, reusing cloth shopping bags and not using plastic bottles.

Ciaran also sees an opportunity beyond meetings for collaborative projects among gardeners. To read the whole story, visit the Longford Leader. To get involved, contact Ciaran O’Hea at  longfordgardenclub@gmail.com or 085-1355990.

The rally will begin at 10am at the Old Palace Yard next to parliament and participants will walk to Trafalgar Square, arriving at noon. Expert speakers will discuss plastic and the environment, and how use of plastic can be responsibly managed. There were also be information on hand about how to make a difference with this issue. Bennett also has a website looking at the environmental impact of plastic use – visit that site for more information.

In addition to taking part in Landmark’s SELP, Duval was inspired by Seth Bernard, who has held water festivals across Michigan. Duval began by creating a partnership with the Kalamazoo River Watershed Council, a non-profit dedicated to working with local groups to protecting the Kalamazoo River. Proceeds from the festival went to the Watershed Council.

With the one million gallon oil spill in the Kalamazoo River having recently taken place, the festival was a call to action for the community. Speakers and information booths supported attendees in how they could make a difference.

Additionally, entertainment was provided by a wide variety of local musicians – festival coordinator Michael Beauchamp performed with his band, Red Tail Ring, and band Red Sea Pedestrians performed a new song inspired by the Enbridge Oil Spill. Duval performed with his own band, Who Hit John? Many other bands from the thriving Michigan folk music scene also performed at the festival.

The reason for the day is environmental education, creation and inspiration, and features a variety of workshops, crafts and musical activities.

The day is being held Saturday, June 5th, starting at 9:30 in the morning with a compostable waffle breakfast, for which a $5 donation is suggested. At 10 there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the opening of the new school garden. The garden actually began in the fall with planter boxes provided by the school’s Dad’s Club – student grown vegetables from the planter boxes will be on sale at the Green Day.

According to Opas, the project was designed to “create community, empowerment and education centered around caring for our planet and for each other.”

To find out more, call Opas at 510-879-1220. Here is the Oakland Local story.

Cermak is the owner of 37-year old family company Rowell, Inc., which manages about 30 different home and condo complexes in the Chicago suburbs. Cermak and Rowell are inviting residents – including renters, owners and village officials – to take part in the ‘Pay it Forward’ planting project created in the Landmark program, planting bushes, trees and perennials and causing connections in the community.

Getting people involved and connected to one another is one of the main goals of the project, according to Rowell assistant manager Christine Cott. Hanover Part police officers have taken up on that idea at one of the work sites, taking part in the planting to build better relations with the community. The full story can be read at the site of the Daily Herald.

The green fair created by Bates is titled “Summer Solstice Celebration – Growing Greener Every Day”, and is being held at the Prisco Community Center in Aurora, Illinois. A full-fledged, all day environmental festival is being planned, with music, food, vendors with environmental products, demonstrations, educational workshops, and more. The fair is being modeled off Elgin, IL’s ECCO Green Expo.

To get involved with Aurora Green Lights or to find out more information about it or the Summer Solstice Celebration/environmental fair, call Bates at 630-605-9244 or go to www.auroragreenlights.org.

Residents work to beautify Iblur Garden

Bellandur Iblur Residents Welfare Association, along with several NGOs, residents of nearby areas, citizen groups and schools, participated in a `Harit-Jagat’ project for beautification of Iblur Lake garden on Saturday.

Sunil Kand, a resident of the neighbourhood, said: “Around 50 persons from the neighbouring areas dedicated two hours for the job. We cleaned the entire garden of trash. We pulled out parthenium and watered the entire area. We also employed gardeners for trimming the hedges.” Overall, the residents filled close to 50 gunny bags with tightly packed trash and parthenium.

Three months ago, a few residents of the area conceived a time-bound action for Iblur Lake and garden. A senior citizens association, whose members use the graden daily, readily took up the job for its upkeep. The BIRWA has taken upon itself the job of `promoting, campaigning and initiating citizen actions for civic and community activities’.