Gearing Up for Earth Day 2016: In the spotlight from the New York Library Association’s Sustainability Initiative (NYLA-SI): “Libraries have long been in the reduce-reuse-recycle business. Way before the first Earth Day celebration kicked off 46 years ago, we’d been resource-sharing and reducing consumption for generations. Earth Day is Friday, April 22nd. Don’t miss this opportunity to show your community how the library honors and sustains our most precious resource, our planet. Here are 5 things you and your library can do to celebrate Earth Day this and every year!
1. Partner with your local community supported agriculture (CSA) and be a food pickup location, like the Valley Cottage Library (NY)
2. Engage your community to participate in a regional litter cleanup of parks and roads, like the Mundy Branch of the Onondaga County Public Library in Syracuse, NY
3. Craft using recycled and found materials, like the Daniel McHugh Library in Piermont, NY.
4. Work with your administration and board to sign a resolution like the Climate Smart Community Library Pledge like the Kingston Library, Kingston, NY
5. Help the Earth Day Network reach their goal of 3 Billion Acts of Green by reducing e-waste, beginning a composting project or ending use of disposable plastic in your library
The NYLA-SI Sustainability Spotlight provides weekly news items related to how New York’s libraries are and can be more environmentally sustainable, economically feasible and socially just.
