Megan Noonan, 13, left, and Kaelyn Emery, 13, both of Vista, carry freshly purchased plants through the crowds at an Earth Day celebration Sunday at the Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. The celebration featured some 65 vendors, entertainment, food, a plant sale and activities. Photo by Bill Wechter - Staff Photographer OCEANSIDE: Taking care of Mother Earth
By Marga Kellogg - For The North County Times | ∞
Megan Noonan, 13, left, and Kaelyn Emery, 13, both of Vista, carry freshly purchased plants through the crowds at an Earth Day celebration Sunday at the Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside. The celebration featured some 65 vendors, entertainment, food, a plant sale and activities. Photo by Bill Wechter - Staff Photographer OCEANSIDE ---- Jackson Meuse was busy Sunday afternoon pressing plaster paw print castings into a large box of damp sand.
"If you see nails in a print, it's a dog (rather than a coyote)," Karen Merrill, with the nonprofit group Preserve Calavera, told the fascinated 9-year-old. "It’s an easy way to get a handle on what you’re seeing."
Jackson, who lives in Vista, said he learned a lot about local wildlife Sunday.
"I thought you could see the coyotes' prints, but you can’t unless they're in the deep mud," he said.
"Mountain lions' front paws are bigger than the back ones and their prey is the opposite so they can run away faster," he added.
Jackson was among several thousand people who streamed onto the grounds of Mission San Luis Rey on Sunday for "North County's Earth Day Celebration."
Earth Day won’t be observed nationally until April 22.
Despite the somewhat blustery weather, many guests perused the 65 booths, which provided information on ways to protect the environment or sold environmentally friendly products.
They included a demonstration of solar-assisted hot water by Butler Sun Solutions, herb distributors Rick and Shana Frey, the Oceanside Library Bookmobile, Green Planet Solutions and Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
Children went from booth to booth filling in a North County Eco-Pals passport.
At a booth sponsored by Quail Botanical Gardens, Poway resident John Harrold walked away with one of the free succulent sprouts that were available.
"I was thinking of all the fires and what would help prevent them," said Harrold. "They said these (plants) would help prevent fires."
Others carried boxes of organic plants bought at tables filled with cactuses, herbs, vegetables and a variety of flowering plants.
And still others ate hot dogs, tri-tip sandwiches or chicken and listened to children play Native American drums as part of the Museum of Making Music’s interactive drumming session.
Jake, a young boy who was helping out at the celebration, said his favorite event was a release of ladybugs earlier in the day as a demonstration of organic pest control.
Maria Revilla, a parish member at the mission who said she has been attending the Earth Day celebration for as long as she can remember, was feasting on tri-tip.
"They’re trying to get you to be aware of Mother Earth," she said.
Nearby, Earth was very much on the mind of Julie Harski, who owns a worm ranch in Ramona and was telling people about the merits of the "red wiggler."
The worms feed on precomposted horse manure, fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and yard trimmings. They produce a dark, richly textured, mature worm, or "vermin," compost.
"There’s a lot of education going on," said Harski. "My worms recycle horse manure so it won’t go into landfills."
The event, which ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., included an electric-vehicles show, animals from the San Diego Zoo, basket weaving and various interactive activities for kids of all ages, said Diane Pal, the mission’s director of marketing and fund development.
Pal said last week that St. Francis, the patron saint of the Franciscans who founded and continue to run the mission, was an environmentalist.
"It takes on even more meaning here, sustaining what we do to preserve the Earth," said Pal.
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Can I bring my wrote on Mar 31, 2008 6:52 AM:cockroaches? They are very earth friendly and have been around alot longer than these clowns.
what? wrote on Mar 31, 2008 6:52 AM:how is EATING TRI-TIP sandwiches being friendly to Mother EARTH? Someone's clueless.
To What? wrote on Mar 31, 2008 7:24 AM:By eating Tri-Tip sandwiches we are saving the atmosphere from methane gas.
Looks like the wrote on Mar 31, 2008 7:26 AM:chickens didn't fare to well at Earth Day.
Clowns? wrote on Mar 31, 2008 7:40 AM:the 6:52 comment is by another SUV driving energy waster who is looking to deflect attention from his energy wasting behavior so that he can maintain the status quo.
Instead of trying to solve the problem he attacks everyone from Al Gore to young children. Nice, real nice.
JK wrote on Mar 31, 2008 8:39 AM:This statement sums up my view of the Al Gore folowing Prius driving trend setters: "And still others ate hot dogs, tri-tip sandwiches or chicken". While they release ladybugs for organic pest control we teach our children it is OK to consume the meat of animals that during their lives create methane gas that pound for pound has 21 times the affect of carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, not to mention the excessive amounts of water used and waste pollution they create. A Veggie or Tofu burger may have been more appropriate for this venue, but I guess some cannot sacrifice the eating burnt animal flesh for the good of Mother Earth.
If we are going to wrote on Mar 31, 2008 8:59 AM:bring up methane gas, lets include mankind, men, women and children.
Why so negative? wrote on Mar 31, 2008 10:35 AM:Some have nothing better to do than find negatives in every story no matter what. Go to work at a greenhouse; get off your butt, turn off the sicko TV's. Find something positive to say to someone. Clean up your yard, turn off lights, walk instead of driving, fix leaky faucets, mow a neighbor's lawn. Please find something GOOD in our earth today.
Tofu Burger?! wrote on Mar 31, 2008 10:49 AM:I conserve & recycle as much as I can. I work at home and drive only when I need to. I haven't brought home a plastic shopping bag in months and buy organic whenever I'm able. However, I have to draw the line at Tofu. I have tried it and there is no plane of existence that would ever allow Tofu anything to substitute for a piece of well cooked animal flesh.
Kallie wrote on Mar 31, 2008 11:50 AM:Re 8:39 comment, I agree only with portion re tofu or vegie burgers would have been nice--maybe next year, but the whole event certainly impressed the children--very important.
Oooooohhh wrote on Mar 31, 2008 12:47 PM:those wicked people they was walking on grass!
Dripping chicken juice wrote on Mar 31, 2008 12:49 PM:on Mother Earth! How could you? How would you like me to come into your house and slobber all over your floor?
These greenies wrote on Mar 31, 2008 12:57 PM:crack me up, I bet they all have the complete set of the fox fire books at home. New age hippies.
This is disgusting wrote on Mar 31, 2008 1:16 PM:eating dead flesh. What did they call this day of the dead?
Obviously wrote on Mar 31, 2008 2:37 PM:Not many in Oceanside today were around for the first Earth Day Celebration back in the mid '80's where recycling displays were present including a 16 foot giant stuffed to the gills w/styrofoam! It impressed my children so much, that they refuse to use anything styrofoam today! I'm not saying this to criticize the organizers, but back in the day ~ we encouraged everyone to pack a picnic lunch ~ since the event was held on the beach!!! They even had bands and such, and the local garbage hauler even contributed to the event in order to encourage recycling in Oceanside. Things evolve sure enough, but please, tri-tip sandwiches and chicken!! Not relative to Earth Day, I'm afraid.
JK wrote on Apr 1, 2008 7:46 AM:To Obviously: I was there at the first Earth Day and agree with your point. Unfortunatly like so many movements to do good(climate change), saving the Earth is no longer a peoples movement, it has turned into a profit opportunity.
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