Tahoe Truckee Earth Day has become our region’s largest and most popular annual environmental event, routinely drawing more than 5,000 people to the Village at Squaw Valley, where it has been staged since 2004. The celebration we look forward to now was actually born on the campus of Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, where the first ‘North Tahoe Earth Day’ was held in 2000. Madonna Dunbar, who organized the event that year with the help of several colleagues, remembers it fondly and cackles in her characteristic way, ‘It was cold that day, we had about 150 people and 15 booths and it snowed… of course!’ Dunbar, who was employed by the college back then, is now a Resource Conservationist at Incline Village General Improvement District (IVGID), Executive Director of the Tahoe Water Suppliers Association, and still an integral member of the Earth Day organizing committee. ‘Back in 2000, we wanted to revive Earth Day…we knew there had been an event before, in the early 1990s at Sand Harbor. It’s hard to believe it’s been nine years now. The event has really grown up and I’ve watched it along the way, just like watching a child grow up.’
Dunbar takes on the monumental task of making Earth Day a ‘zero-waste’ event each year, which involves a comprehensive strategy of maximizing recycling, minimizing waste, reducing overall consumption and ensuring that waste, or as she prefers to call them ‘resources’ are reused, recycled or composted after the event. There are no conventional trash receptacles at Earth Day. Attendees are instead directed to ‘stations’ where they are confronted with an array of recycling and compostable containers. Dunbar and her Zero Waste team of 20 volunteers keep track of every ounce of waste that goes into and comes out of the event.
Last year, a total of 762 pounds of materials were deposited at five stations throughout the day, of which only 56 pounds of trash eventually had to be discarded. Reaching a 93 percent diversion rate is the best effort yet for Dunbar and Tahoe Truckee Earth Day and she’s proud. ‘We are darn near our goal. It’s taken a while, but the zero-waste effort is finally dialed in!’
After Dunbar helped to revive Earth Day and get it firmly rooted, another local environmental luminary got involved and helped move the event to the next level. Heather Segale, now Education and Outreach Coordinator for the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, attended the event back in 2000 and 2001 and wanted to help it grow and become more of a regional affair. In 2002, the event was renamed Tahoe Truckee Earth Day and moved to a more accessible venue at Northstar-at-Tahoe. The Town of Truckee got involved that year for the first time and with more exhibitors and high profile music acts, attendance grew from several hundred to several thousand.
Segale and others realized that by 2004, Tahoe Truckee Earth Day was solid and that there was a need to create a nonprofit to enhance and open up fundraising opportunities for the committee. The Lake Tahoe Earth Day Foundation was born and became an official nonprofit by 2005. Also in 2004, because of construction on the new Village at Northstar, the committee was forced to find a new host venue. The Village at Squaw Valley, newly completed, was happy to accommodate, and has served as home to the event ever since. Segale still sits on the Tahoe Earth Day Foundation Board, but Suzanne Wilkins has been the prime mover behind Earth Day since 2003 and has always served as the Foundation President.
Asked why she originally got involved with Earth Day, Wilkins, who is deep in the throes of planning the event, throws her head back and laughs sarcastically, ‘It sounded like fun.’ Then she reflects more seriously. ‘It seemed like a great way to network with other planners and people in the environmental field at the federal, state and local level.’ Wilkins, a Planner employed by CDM (Camp, Dresser & McKee) in Truckee, has been in the environmental planning field for 25 years. She and husband Dan, Public Works Director/ Engineer for the Town of Truckee, live on the West Shore with their five-year-old son, Tanner.
From Wilkins’ perspective, the event is all about finding a balance between creating a fun, exciting day for attendees and providing an excellent educational opportunity. In the last few years, she feels the event has definitely gotten a bit out of balance. ‘It started to turn into more of a music festival than an environmentally-focused day of education and learning about how to make our planet a better place.’ Her intention for this year is to bring the event back to its earlier roots. ‘The first few Tahoe Truckee Earth day festivals were smaller and focused on networking, outreach and environmental education. We’re scaling down this year on everything from music to PR and trying to bring that focus back.’ Sounds like a perfect plan for the slow economic times and for Wilkins herself, who admits this will be her very last year heading up the effort. She’s said it before, but she is firm. She is passing the torch officially and wants to announce it here and now. ‘It’s a great event and I will miss it, but I just can’t do it anymore.’ The Lake Tahoe Foundation is looking for a new leader and a few new Board members according to Wilkins. Nichole Dorr, Town of Truckee Recycling Coordinator, who has co-chaired the event since 2007, is also stepping down.
Earth Day is bound to go through some new and different growing pains, but it will continue. Next year will be the 10th annual event and the child all these women have watched grow up, will undoubtedly find some new parents who care just as much.
Other Earth Day Events Sharing Nature With Children
April 18
Nevada County’s 19th Annual Earth Day celebration – ‘Sharing Nature with Children’– will be co-produced by four Nevada Union High School seniors as their senior project this year. Keynote speaker will be Joseph Cornell, world-renowned author, environmental educator, and advocate for connecting children and nature. The free celebration includes eco displays, local artisans, non-profit and Earth-friendly business vendors, food and drink, and kids’ crafts. Help celebrate this zero-waste event by bringing your own dishes (there will be lots of recycling bins, but no trash cans.) 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lake MacBoyle at upper Loma Rica Ranch, 12190 Loma Rica Drive, Grass Valley. For event updates, booth applications, or posters, click ‘Earth Day’ at foothillmedia.org or call Beth at 274-0360.
Recycle Your Jeans for Earthday
Between April 17 to April 30
PlumpJackSport will celebrate Earth Day by trading 30 percent off a new pair of jeans for a pair of your gently used jeans. All recycled jeans will benefit the Tahoe Forest Hospice Program. They will also host a kids’ arts and crafts table with many recycled materials at the free North Tahoe/Truckee Earth Day event at the Village at Squaw Valley on April 18. plumpjacksport.com or 530-584-6181.
Brickelltown’s Take on Earth Day
April 19
‘Recycled: Art Work Created by Lost and Found’ is an art exhibit celebrating Earth Day in Truckee’s Brickelltown Courtyard. Incorporating found objects and discarded treasures, artists are creating a variety of art pieces for inclusion in the show. The exhibit, sponsored by Riverside Studios, Fair and Green, and Drake and Lulu’s Art Shed, will focus on creative possibilities for reusing, recycling, and reinventing. There will be an Art Table for kids, a bike tune-up class, Locals First activities, and more, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. More information at 530-587-3789.
Pedal There EarthDay Ride
April 18
Join Pedal There to cruise to Earth Day. Riders will meet in Tahoe City at 64 Acres at 10 a.m. and take the bike path to the Village at Squaw Valley. The ride is an easy 7.4 miles and great for the whole family. Plenty of bike parking will be available at the Village. Ride subject to weather and the bike path being open. willpedalforfood@hotmail.com.
