April as ‘Earth Month’ Will Include Environmentally Friendly Activities and Calls to Action

Montgomery County will celebrate April as “Earth Month” with special events promoting sustainability, conservation and eco-friendliness. Highlights include the two-day GreenFest event in Wheaton at Brookside Gardens and Marian Fryer Plaza, social media campaigns and park clean-ups.

The 2023 international theme for Earth Month and Earth Day—April 22—is “Invest in Our Planet.” The theme focuses on engaging governments, institutions, businesses and people to join actions to take care of the planet.

Montgomery County will have a series of events, activities and campaigns designed to inspire action and a commitment to sustainability and environmental protection. Those will include:

• GreenFest—GreenFest in the Gardens. Saturday, April 22: Events Brookside Gardens in Wheaton. Sunday, April 23: Activities at GreenFest in the City at Marian Fryer Plaza in Downtown Wheaton.
• Bike and scooter classes for adults. Find more information at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DOT-DIR/commuter/bikewalk/index.html
• Food is Too Good to Waste—Social media campaign to reduce the amount of food waste generated at the source, channel excess food to those with unmet needs and compost food waste.
• Montgomery Parks Volunteer Park Cleanups/ Events
• Nature Centers hosting native plant sales. https://montgomeryparks.org/plant-sales/.
• Stream and Park Cleanups throughout the month. https://montgomeryparks.org/support/volunteer/stream-park-cleanups/
• Long Branch Earth Day. Saturday, April 22. https://discoverlongbranch.com/featured-events/long-branch-earth-day/
• Something Awesome: Earth Month Edition. Saturday, April 22. https://montgomeryparks.org/events/something-awesome-earth-day-edition/
• Earth Day trash clean up. Saturday, April 22. https://montgomeryparks.org/events/earth-day-trash-clean-up/.
• Arbor Day Tree Planting—Friday, April 28. Veterans Park, Wheaton (time TBD).
• Alcohol Beverage Services is featuring eco-friendly products at its 26 retail stores all month. Customers should look for the “Sustainable Product” shelf tags.

"Earth Month is a time to recommit ourselves to the importance of protecting our precious and vulnerable environment," said Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich. " Montgomery County is making progress toward our Climate Action Plan goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035. Jurisdictions around our nation and the world, including The White House, have taken notice of what we are achieving. This month and throughout the year, I encourage all community members and businesses to commit themselves to our sustainability efforts and take part in all of the County’s activities and initiatives to combat climate change."

Follow Montgomery County on social media and promote Earth Month 2023 using the hashtags: #MoCoClimateSmart #BeClimateSmartMoCo #MoCoEarthMonth and #2023MoCoEarthMonth.