HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Ahead of Monday’s Earth Day, volunteers will be out this weekend cleaning up along the Ohio River at Huntington’s Harris Riverfront Park during one of the many events being held across the Mountain State for what has become a global event.
“Earth Day means even more these days than it ever did because of what we’re facing now in terms of climate change and the environment,” said Barbara Garnett, coordinator for Women’s March West Virginia in Huntington.
Earth Day is billed as a day political action and civic participation.
This Saturday, civic participation will take the form of trash pickups from volunteers at Harris Riverfront Park from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
To encourage people to get involved with that, Garnett’s group was planning to revive its Third Thursday actions with a “No Planet B” demonstration on Huntington’s Fifth Avenue outside the Cabell County Courthouse beginning at 4:30 p.m. Thursday afternoon.
She said it was an awareness event focused on the necessity of protecting the planet.
“There’s many things that you can do and a small part of what you might be able to do is to join us on Saturday for our river cleanup,” Garnett said.
This year will be the first year for the Women’s March cleanup at Harris Riverfront Park.
“This is just one of the many topics that we like to focus on — others being things like inequality, racial inequality, disability rights, all kinds of things,” she said.
Both the Third Thursday protests and Saturday park cleanup were open to the public.
Next year marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.