This year Bob Jones is taking a different approach to Earth Day. The Science National Honor Society, SNHS, is hosting a full week of fun activities and collaborations from many other honor societies. Each day has a different theme along with a different activity. This week will take place from April 15th to the 19th.

On Monday, the theme is general science in collaboration with the National Art Honor Society. The activity is to display pictures of scientific events in Commons alongside actual pictures of events.  

Tuesday the theme is math in science in collaboration with Mu Alpha Theta. The activity is creating a statistics poster and being able to display it the Commons as you walk down the stairs. Along with the poster, there will also be a five code message competition that comes with a prize. There will also be hidden Earths all around the school with a question about earth week, and the answer can be found on one of the posters around the school. If the student has the answer, he or she has to go to Mr. Johnston’s room during break or class change, and will get candy for the correct answer.

Wednesday the theme is language and literature in science, in collaboration with National English Honor Society. There will be a chance to write a science poem and have it hung up to vote for the best one. There will be a prize for winning poems! During lunch, there will be science riddles, located at a table in the main lunch hall with candy as prizes for correct answers.

Thursday the theme is history and in collaboration with Rho Kappa. There will be a timeline of specific Earth related events including environmental legislation, the birth, and death of important scientists, and some important innovations. This will be displayed in the upper commons and lunchroom.

The week ends with the theme of environmentalism: rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle in collaboration with the National Art Honor Society again. Students will turn all the papers used throughout the week into butterflies to hang in lower commons – same as last year. There will be email trivia- “Environmental Email,” during the first block, with a typical list of 10 questions for classes to solve and first one back gets candy as prizes.

Following into the weekend, Saturday, April 20th, Monte Sano State Park will be hosting “49th Earth Day Festival and Farmers Market.” The event will last from 10 am to 3 pm in the parks’ picnic area where you can interact with a NASA weather balloon, an assortment of organic foods and plants, ‘The Southern Herbalist,’ a birds of prey show, some eco friendly cars, an outdoor gear tent, some conservation organizations, tons of hands-on activities for children, a scavenger hunt and much more. Food trucks will also be on hand. The State Park System in Montgomery requires a $10 fee at the gate per vehicle. Multiple vehicles can park at the Monte Sano United Methodist Church Parking lot, and share a ride—there will be no bussing to the State Park. The Church is located at 601 Monte Sano Blvd.

For any other contributions for the Earth Day week, you can educate yourself on the Water Conservation and Securities Act. The Alabama Rivers Association, ARA, also provides a list of facts and talking points to help build knowledge on the Tri-State Water War. They ask that people, “Tell the Environmental Protection Agency NOT to roll back critical water protections. The EPA is now attempting to alter the “Waters of the United States” definition by adopting the so-called “Dirty Water Rule.” Under this proposal, as many as 69,000 miles of streams, rivers, lakes, and bays in Alabama would lose protection. Protect these at-risk communities, wildlife species, and billions of dollars in economic productivity by ACTING NOW.” You can file your comments to EPA here or even send an email to Senator Doug Jones here.

For more information, events,  or donations to ARA, you can go to their website.