A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 79F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..
Tonight
Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 57F. Winds light and variable.
To celebrate Earth Day, many different groups have come together to organize events around the Gorge.
On April 22, the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, Gorge Owned (GO!) will be celebrating the sustainability champions of our community with the 5th annual Tod J. LeFevre Sustainability Champion Awards, which celebrates people who are working on innovative, creative solutions to the environmental, economic and social issues facing the Gorge. GO! will present the awards to one individual, one business and one student at the Columbia Center for the Arts (CCA), from 6:30-7:30 p.m. “The Great Wolf Divide,” a documentary presented by the Wolf Education Center and CCA about the near extinction and reintroduction of wolves, will follow at 7:30 p.m.
Nominations for the Tod J. LeFevre Sustainability Champion Awards will be accepted until April 12, 2015.
To nominate someone, go to www.gorgeowned.org and click on the Earth Day page.
April 23 is the GO! Earth Day party at The Pint Shack in downtown Hood River. This all ages party will include short, live pitches from GO! Local Business Plan competition participants, where the audience will get to pick their top 3 favorites, will advance onto a chance to earn a no-interest $5,000 loan from Kiva Zip, a not-for-profit micro enterprise lending program. There will also be a raffle, drinks and finger foods for sale, and live music by the Ananas & the Papas beginning at 8 p.m. (children welcome until 8 p.m.). Suggested donation is $5-10 at the door; children 12 and under are free.
April 24-26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Gorge Owned is helping to organize the 20th annual Community Pride clean-up in Bingen. All residents of Klickitat County are encouraged to bring their recyclables, yard waste, and other materials to the Bingen collection center for a small fee.
This event promotes the responsible disposal of waste — last year, over 70 tons of materials were diverted from the landfill and either recycled, reused, composted, or donated.
There are other events happening in the region over Earth Week, such as a Columbia Riverkeeper cleanup of the lower Hood River, an Earth Day parade for kids sponsored by the Columbia Gorge Peace Village, and more. Check www.gorgeowned.org for a complete listing of Earth Day events.
Since 2000, Earth Day in the Gorge has been hosted by Columbia Gorge Earth Center (CGEC), which merged with Gorge Owned (GO!) in 2013. GO! is a member-supported organization with a mission to strengthen connections between people, ecology and economy to build a healthy community in the Columbia Gorge. GO! programs include Gorge Earth Day, Gorge Green Drinks, Sense of Place Lecture Series, the Gorge Green Home Tour, GO! Local Campaign and GO! Solar. Learn More at GorgeOwned.org.
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