Saturday is Earth Day, celebrated by people around the globe since the first Earth Day in 1970, and Maple Ridge marked the occasion with family events in Memorial Peace Park.
There were ecological displays, and there was Bruce Stout of the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association explaining how a trip from North Vancouver to Halifax and back cost him $36.
There was art, as children Hannah and Ian Kang worked with clay directed by local potter Brigia Schneiter, and Kari Robson painted flora with local painter Darrel Swanson, holding a little plant she had purchased as she worked.
On the grass, local artist Kat Wahamaa used native plants to create a huge mandala.
John Kelly and Liz Hancock of the Alouette River Management Society helped Lewis and Elizabeth Murden build a birdhouse. The one they built at Earth Day a few years ago is well used by birds, they said.
And local politicians like MP Dan Ruimy answered a series of questions on an Earth Day theme, on a day to celebrate nature and the environmental movement.
Earth Day has been celebrated in Canada since 1980, and in 1990 it became a global event, with 200 million people in 141 countries participating. It is estimated one billion people across the globe will participate in Earth Day 2017.
