Happy Earth Month in Madison

Happy Earth Month! While Earth Day doesn’t officially arrive until April 22, it’s never too early to start celebrating. Organizations big and small are hosting amazing events in and around Madison all month long. Earth Day provides us all with an opportunity to celebrate our achievements to protect our planet and build awareness and partnerships to tackle the challenges ahead. Check out the City’s Sustainability and Resilience page to learn more about the actions the City is taking to protect our environment, our health, and our climate.

Hopefully, you will be able to join friends and neighbors across Madison to celebrate Earth Day at these exciting events:

City of Madison Parks Department:

Earth Day Challenge

Every year, the City of Madison’s Park Department plans the Earth Day Challenge where neighbors and friends volunteer to clean up their local park. Join this community-wide volunteer effort to help make a difference. Earth Day Challenge Projects are held throughout the city. Volunteers may assist with trash pickup, raking, weeding, and removing sticks. The City will supply gloves, garbage bags and rakes. Rakes at each park will be based on the number of volunteers participating. Here is a complete list of events happening around Madison.

Date: Saturday, April 20th

Time: 10am to 12pm

Register Online

Wisconsin EcoLatinos:

El dia de la Tierra - Bilingual Conservation Fair at Elver Park

This amazing fair brings together many community organizations to provide information on a wide range of environmental conservation and sustainability topics. This family-friendly event will feature translation assistance into Spanish. The event will also host an electronics recycling collection point. Attendees are welcome to bring unwanted electronics for recycling free of charge. Find ideas and resources to protect the environment and reduce your carbon footprint with organizations such as Renew Wisconsin, UW Extension, DNR Wildlife, DNR e-cycling, Ripple Effect, Saltwise, Center for Limnology, Urban Tree Alliance, Sustain Dane, Sierra Club, REAP, and the Trash Lab. The Bilingual Conservation Fair is an excellent opportunity for the community to learn about the environment and how to positively impact it.

For more information, please visit www.wisconsinecolatinos.org or contact Wisconsin EcoLatinos at info@wisconsinecolatinos.org.

Date: Saturday, April 20th

Time: 11am to 2pm

Location: Elver Park (1250 McKenna Blvd, Madison, WI 53719)

UW-Madison:

Earth Fest

Every year UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Office of Sustainability organizes a weeklong array of lectures, visual and performing arts, and interactive exhibits pertaining to environmental issues. The schedule can be found here. Many of the events are presented by UW-Madison faculty and students engaged in sustainability research and action, while others include speakers come from across the nation, such as a lecture by Johathan Foley, Executive Director of Project Drawdown.

Dates: April 19-26

Event Schedule

Sustain Dane:

Earth Month Cleanup

Sustain Dane is happy to partner with Ian’s Pizza to celebrate Earth Month 2024 with a cleanup in the Starkweather Neighborhood. Ian’s is generously offering a free pizza slice for your hard work. When trash washes into lakes, rivers, and streams it not only harms fish and other aquatic wildlife, but also makes it difficult to boat, fish, or swim. Help pick up our neighborhood to prevent this pollution from reaching our waterways. Participants will meet outside the south entrance of Garver Feed Mill. Sustain Dane will provide gloves, trash bags, and hand sanitizer. Please RSVP so that they can get an accurate headcount.

Date: Saturday, April 13

Time: 9:30 AM – 11:30 AM

Location: Garver Feed Mill (3241 Garver Green, Madison, WI 53704)

Please RSVP Here

350 Wisconsin:

Art Collective Earth Day Activities

350 Wisconsin’s Art Collective is hosting twin events to kick-off their Earth Week celebrations:

• A group of rather “unusual visitors” will appear at the Dane County Farmers’ Market, on the North Hamilton plaza of the Capitol Square, as part of a surprise flash mob. These out-of-town “visitors” will be urging people to consider climate change in their voting choices.

Date: Saturday, April 20

Time: 10am

Location: Dane County Farmers’ Market

• All are invited to participate in an Earth Day procession and rally with students from around Wisconsin. Participants will meet at East Campus Mall at 1pm, march to Library Mall and then down State Street to a brief rally on the Capitol steps that will begin around 2pm. 350 Wisconsin would love to have as many folks as possible join their volunteers to show our support for these young adults who are facing down the climate crisis with great resolve.

Date: Saturday, April 20

Time: 2pm

Location: East Campus Mall