Earth Day 2021: What can you do and where?

April 21, 2021 Natasha Blakely

By Natasha Blakely

April 21, 2021

The COVID-19 vaccine is still rolling out and making its way to people all around the world. How comfortable people feel about participating in events and group activities is extremely varied.

But that doesn’t have to stop anyone interested in taking part in Earth Day this year, whether they do it indoors, outdoors, around other people or alone.

Great Lakes Now put together a sample list of activities around the Great Lakes region that you can participate in this Earth Day and into the weekend.

Aside from these, check out your local area for events, or visit the Earth Day official website or Canadian website.

But before we get state- and province-specific, let’s start with the basics that you can do anywhere and anytime:

Bike or walk to the store, to pick up carryout or to other destinations, instead of taking your car.
Grow your own vegetables.
Reduce plastic usage. In fact, some would say “refuse” it to reduce recycling in the first place.
Conserve electricity. Turn the lights off and play a board game or another activity that might not require electricity.
Help clean up your yard, neighborhood or a nearby watershed.

Illinois:

Join the Forest Preserves of Cook County in a county-wide litter cleanup and other Earth Day activities on Thursday, April 22, from noon.
The Forest Preserves of Cook County also is hosting a Facebook Live event about female pioneers in the environmental movement on April 22 at 2 p.m.

Indiana:

The Earth Day Indiana festival will be happening on June 5 at Garfield Park in Indianapolis.

Michigan:

Local Detroit artist Matt Finish will be highlighting the problem of industrial waste with a live drawing session in Hart Plaza, near the Spirit of Detroit monument in Detroit, Michigan, on the morning of Thursday, April 22.
Michigan EGLE’s Office of Climate and Energy has online listening sessions scheduled for April 22 and May 5 to ask the public for their insights into climate and how Michigan can move toward carbon neutrality by 2050. The April 22 session is at 10:30 a.m. A link to attend can be found at gov/Climate webpage.
Michigan EGLE also is hosting a student webinar on climate, drinking water and contamination on April 22 from 1 to 1:40 p.m.
Join an Earth Day cleanup at Lake Erie Metropark on Saturday, April 24, from 10 a.m.
Join the Belle Isle Conservancy’s Belle Isle Spring Cleanup from April 17 to 24.

Minnesota:

Join the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and the city of Minneapolis in Earth Day cleanups on Saturday, April 24, from 9:30 a.m. to noon.
Join the month-long virtual run challenge.
Go to a drive-in screening of “An Inconvenient Truth” on Thursday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m. in Golden Valley, Minnesota.
Enjoy in-person or virtual activities on Earth Day with the Pollinator Park in Stillwater, Minnesota.

New York:

Join a Great Lakes cleanup organized by the Seneca Park Zoo Society and Buffalo Niagara Waterkeepers from April 24 to May 2.

Ohio:

Go on a self-guided hike from April 19 to 26, or an Earth Day wildflower hike on April 22 at 6 p.m. at Summit Metro Parks.
Get a free native tree sapling from any of nine Summit Metro Parks locations on Saturday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Try a virtual Earth Day for kids here.
Go on an Earth Day hike or stroll among the maples at Cleveland Metroparks on April 22 from 1 to 2 p.m.

Ontario:

The province is under a stay home order until May, so spend Earth Day taking a virtual tour in a helicopter over the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River or of the Canadian Museum of Nature.

Pennsylvania: