Earth Month
More than 4,400 seedlings have been planted in Newport and Bristol counties since 2022
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More than 200 rain-barrels have been provided to our community since 2022!
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More than 1200 pounds of trash have been picked up in our community since 2022.
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More than 4,400 seedlings have been planted in Newport and Bristol counties since 2022 🌎 More than 200 rain-barrels have been provided to our community since 2022! 🌎 More than 1200 pounds of trash have been picked up in our community since 2022. 🌎
Our Earth Month programming runs each year throughout the month of April with the goal of helping our environment!
It has been fifty-four years since the first Earth Day in 1970. At that time, the idea to bring the environment to the forefront of the U.S. political conversation was revolutionary. Today, much has been achieved on helping our environment, yet there is much work to do.
Earth Month 2024 Highlights:
Picked up 609 pounds of trash at our three plogging events (that’s over 1200 pounds since 2022)
1,400 seedlings were planted in Newport & Bristol Counties (that’s over 4,400 seedlings since 2022)
Distributed 75 rain barrels, which will divert thousands of gallons of polluted stormwater from the watershed (that’s 200 rain barrels since 2022)
2024 Earth Month Programming
in Partnership with Aquidneck Island Earth Week
Earth Day Seedling Sale
April 20, 2024
During Earth Week we distributed over 1,400 seedlings to local residents. These seedlings will grow into resilient allies for Narragansett Bay - absorbing excess stormwater, creating habitat for wildlife, and controlling erosion. Thank you to all of our volunteers who helped to prepare the seedlings, Horus from Hawk & Handsaw Farm for his expertise, to Greenvale Vineyards for hosting us, and in-kind donations from BioBag and Home Depot.
PLOG NEWPORT - April 13, 2024
On Saturday, April 13, as the first of the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District (ERICD)’s Earth Month plogging events, about 45 volunteers worked as a team to plog (picking up trash while walking or jogging) along the Rhode Races Newport Marathon course. Rhode Races does a fabulous job at reducing race trash and calls on the ERICD Earth Month volunteer team for what doesn’t make it to the trash buckets. It is important to note that not all of the trash collected on April 13 is from the race, but also a lot of pre-race trash and the plogging volunteers often go above and beyond cleaning up areas surrounding the course. Together, the Plog Newport volunteers picked up over 200 lbs of trash. This ERICD plogging event was sponsored by Orsted US and was in partnership with Newport Rhode Races. All of the ERICD Earth Month plogging events are made possible with generous donations of supplies by Keep Nature Wild and the Low Impact Alliance.
PLOG TIVERTON - April 21, 2024
On Sunday, April 21, as the second of the Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District (ERICD)’s Earth Month plogging events, over 20 volunteers worked as a team to plog (picking up trash while walking or jogging) the length of Fogland Beach and Neck Road in Tiverton in celebration of Earth Day weekend! Over 150 lbs of trash was picked up at Fogland Beach and surrounding roads by walkers and joggers. Of the 150 lbs picked up, at least 20 lbs of the total was sorted to recycling, proving that Earth Month ploggers are always willing to go the extra mile when it comes to protecting our environment. This ERICD plogging event was in partnership with the Tiverton Litter Committee and the Farmcoast Run Club. All of the ERICD Earth Month plogging events are made possible with generous donations of supplies by Keep Nature Wild and the Low Impact Alliance.
PLOG & CHUG - April 25, 2024
On Thursday, April 25, as the third and final of the 2024 Eastern Rhode Island Conservation District (ERICD)’s Earth Month plogging events, a group of over fifty joggers picked up over 247 pounds of litter in Newport. The event was in partnership between Newport Run and Chug, an active running club community which meets weekly for jogs around the city. This particular Thursday was designated as a“plogging” night for Earth Month and Aquidneck Island Earth Week. Prior to the start of the event, the goal was to collect a total of 101 pounds of trash in order to hit a Keep Nature Wild lifetime impact total of 1,000 lbs collected by ERICD, and the volunteers succeeded in exceeding that goal by miles to set a new lifetime 'Keep Nature Wild' impact total of 1,146 lbs of trash collected. The ERICD and Newport Run and Chug have now partnered on this event multiple times, with this particular Plog and Chug sticking out as the one with the most trash collected per one plogging event. This surprised us that we were able to collect so much trash, even after Earth Day weekend when many clean ups typically take place. A big thank you to the Run and Chug club for enthusiastically helping to clean up Newport. The ERICD plogging events are made possible with generous donations of supplies by Keep Nature Wild and the Low Impact Alliance. Over $200 was also raised to support our nonprofit during the Plog and Chug event thanks to donations from Street Ferret, Narragansett Brewery, and the Refill Store Newport.
Rain Barrel Events
For the fifth year we hosted rain barrel workshops for local residents. Overall, we sold out and distributed 75 barrels. These barrels collect stormwater for use in gardens and on lawns. This stops stormwater from flowing down our streets, collecting pollutants before being washed into the watershed. Rain barrels are an easy way to reduce water use at your home. Thank you to all of our volunteers including students from Roger Williams University and the Mount Hope High School Green Club. Thank you to Coca Cola for donating the barrels and to the towns of Bristol, Barrington, and Middletown. We will be having more events in the future - click the button to sign up for our newsletter to be notified of future events.
Earth Month Gallery
