Clean, conserve and contribute to a greener future with Earth Day events across Orange County Saturday

People interested in doing good for their environment and communities will have multiple opportunities to get their hands dirty and learn more about sustainable living in Orange County on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22.

Costa Mesa will host its second annual Earth Day Festival from 10 a.m. through 2 p.m. outside of City Hall, 77 Fair Drive. Attendees will have the opportunity to plant trees, learn more about the city’s local ecology and sample free, locally sourced food. There will also be activities for children designed to promote recycling and other green practices.

The event is the brainchild of officials at Costa Mesa’s Division of Energy and Sustainability, and part of a concerted push in recent years to reduce the community’s carbon footprint, city spokesman Tony Dodero said. Other steps they have taken include retrofitting streetlights with efficient LEDs, installation of numerous electric vehicle charging stations and discouraging the use of disposable drink containers at public buildings.

One of the festival’s more popular attractions is a bike hooked up to a generator so that pedaling powers a blender, which attendees can use to make a smoothie. Other booths will teach people about local plants and animals as well as the city’s upcoming sustainability projects, Costa Mesa Recreation Manager Monique Villasenor said. And three bicycles will be raffled off at the end of the event.

Volunteers who want to get out and roll up their sleeves on Earth Day can find multiple cleanup events taking place in Orange County. At least two are scheduled to take place in Huntington Beach between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m.

About 100 people had already registered to participate in one happening at the beach that day, according to Environmental Specialist for Huntington Beach’s Public Works Department, Ricky Kloppe. Those interested in volunteering on the sand should meet near Zack’s Too restaurant south of the pier. Free parking will be available in the lot on Pacific Coast Highway, near Beach Boulevard.

Those who come out to the beach may have their work cut out for them, Kloppe said. Storm water from an especially wet winter in Southern California this year swept a lot of trash on the street into drains and eventually the ocean.

“We’ve been seeing a lot more of that stuff making it’s way to the beach,” Kloppe said.

Volunteers gather for a cleanup event at Huntington Beach.

(Courtesy of the Huntington Beach Public Works Department)

The city’s crews tend to do a good job of clearing large debris from the beaches, but many pieces of “micro plastic” that can be difficult to spot at a glance often get left behind, Kloppe said. So, many of those who show up to the strand on Saturday will likely be assigned to sift the nonbiodegradable substances out of the sand with colanders.

Preregistration is recommended but not required to participate in the Huntington Beach events.

A second cleanup held each year in Huntington Beach at Bartlett Park, 19822 Beach Blvd., typically results in the collection of a much larger volume of garbage than the one on the beach, Kloppe said. But only 25 people had signed up for that one as of Tuesday.

“We get a lot more of a local presence in Bartlett Park,” Kloppe said. “The people who show up there really take pride in cleaning up their neighborhood.”

Another beach cleanup will be hosted in Newport Beach between 9 and 11:30 a.m. Saturday by Recycle for Veterans and the Newport Bay Conservancy. People interested in volunteering there should gather for sign-in and briefing at Newport Beach Pier. Bags, buckets, gloves and hand sanitizer will be provided.