Houston Area Earth Day Celebrations and Events

With 'going green' becoming more and more popular, Earth Day 2009 is sure to be a hit in every city. Earth Day is the annual celebration of the environment and it falls on April 22. The US version of Earth Day was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. Fresh off the heels of the protests of the 1960s, Earth Day 1970 boasted 20 million participants - all sharing the common goals of being kind to the earth and treading lightly upon the resources we have. Today, the April 22 Earth Day is celebrated by 500 million people in more than 170 countries.

Folks in the greater Houston area can get in on Earth Day events as well. There are several activities planned to commemorate this environmental awareness day. The following are just a sampling.

Mothers For Clean Air Moms and Kids 5K Run
April 11, 2009 5:30am
Starting point: McKinney and Crawford
Houston, Texas

For more information contact Matthew Tejada at 713-528-3779.

Mothers For Clean Air Living Festival
April 11, 2009 9am-6pm
Discovery Green
1500 McKinney
Houston, Texas
713-400-7336

A living festival that encourages Houstonians to preserve, conserve, re-use, and recycle to help make Houston a greener city.

Earth Day Celebration At The Houston Zoo
April 18 & 19, 2009
9am-3pm
Houston Zoo
6200 Golf Course Drive
Houston, Texas 77030
713-533-6500

The Houston Zoo is partnering with Waste Management to host an Earth Day Celebration. Visitors will have a chance to participate in relay races, hand-on activities regarding conservation and recycling, and sit in on lectures from zookeepers about keeping our natural habitats pollution-free.

Earth Day Celebration
April 28, 2009
Armand Bayou Nature Center
8500 Bay Area Blvd.
Pasadena, Texas 77507
281-474-2551

The Armand Bayou Nature Center will host an Earth Day Celebration featuring children's activities, food vendors, music, as well as demonstrations and displays regarding conservation and 'going green'.

Earth Day & Oleander Festival
April 26 & 27, 2009
10am-4pm
Moody Gardens Visitor Center
Galveston, Texas

This year Galveston is combining their Oleander Festival with an Earth Day Celebration. The event will offer face painting, kids' crafts, music, information about sustainable products and conservation, and much more. The event is free to the public.

H-E-B Earth Day Recycling Giveaway
All area H-E-B stores
April 22nd, 2009 3pm-7pm

Houston-area H-E-B stores will be hosting a plastic bag recycling drive in celebration of Earth Day 2009. H-E-B will be offering a coupon for a free reusable shopping bag to each shopper that brings in five plastic shopping bags for recycling.