City of Lauderdale Lakes holds Earth Day Celebration

City of Lauderdale Lakes holds Earth Day Celebration

Students from area schools in Lauderdale Lakes participate in Earth Day activity sponsored by the City of Lauderdale Lakes and Broward County Waste Management & Recycling, while learning the importance of recycling, conservation, and sustainability.  The students used recycled materials to construct a replica of the earth.

By Charles Moseley

     As the earth’s population continues to expand man is faced more and more with questions concerning the environment. Regardless of what side you may find yourself on, environmentally sensitive issues such as off shore drilling, global warming, or expanding the Alaskan pipeline; today more than ever there is no doubt that steps must be taken to preserve the environment.

    The City of Lauderdale Lakes celebrated Earth Day on April 22 with a Community Celebration at Vincent Torres Park, in Lauderdale Lakes, Fla.  

    The afternoon included a community art-globe project, entertainment, refreshments, and an art activity which provided participants the opportunity to create an individual recyclable art creation.

    Earth Day is an annual day on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate sup-port for environmental protection. Earth Day is observed on April 22 each year. Earth Day is coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and is celebrated in more than 192 countries every year.

    Lauderdale Lakes hosted the event, in part, with a grant received from Broward County for the City’s Recycling Education Initiative for Sustainability.  “We are thrilled to be a recipient of the Broward County Solid Waste and Recycling Services Division Grant in honor of Earth Day”, stated Lauderdale Lakes Mayor Barrington A. Russell, Sr. “We wanted to offer our residents a unique celebration encompassing art, education about our environment, recycling and the community. I believe we have reached this goal.”

    Local artist George Gadson was chosen to partner with the City to provide the artistic sup-port for the celebration.  Gadson constructed a five foot wire globe which was filled by children and adults, with recycled materials to complete the profile of the earth.

    This creative activity to the Earth Day festivity is sure to be the highlight of the celebration.  “I applaud the City of Lauderdale Lakes for encompassing art and culture into this special celebration”, stated Gadson.                       

    Today’s focus has been to really look at our earth, protecting our earth, because of our efforts toward maintaining sustainability, what we do with our earth today, will have an impact on generations to come.”

    According to Gadson another event is planned by the City of Lauderdale Lakes on May 12th, which will involve a community wide cleanup. Those materials gathered during the cleanup will be used by Gadson to create a piece of artwork which will then, in turn, be on permanent display in the City of Lauderdale Lakes.

    Terrance Barber, Recreations Manager for the City of Lauderdale Lakes, was on hand to help coordinate the environ-mental event.

    “Today’s activity is about saving the earth. Earth Day is a day we all know that we have to pitch in together to help our environment by educating our youth, our teens, as well as our adults. The support of sustainability as far as recycling, litter control, and clean energy shown today, is significant.  Now the entire city is pushing forward with our recycling initiative.” 

    Erving Witter is the president of the Community Garden Club of Lauderdale Lakes who came out in support of the City’s Earth Day Celebration. His organization is involved in a project which assists residents from the local area who participate in a gardening program, grow their own fruits and vegetables.

    “I think this has been a very good idea. We also believe in recycling at the garden program  and encourage the entire community to participate in these activities.”