We know that our Commuter Central readers make every day Earth Day, but that doesn’t make the annual celebration and great local events any less meaningful or fun.

Know of other events? Let us know in the Comments section and we’ll add them to the story. 

Alberta Main Steet "Deep Clean"

Saturday, April 23rd

10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Meet at Alberta and 18th

City Repair 11th Annual Earth Day Celebration

Washington High School Field

SE 14th and Stark

Saturday, April 23rd, 2011

10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

The City Repair Project and the Buckman Neighborhood Association announce the 11th Annual Earth Day Celebration. This daylong fun filled celebration will be a 100% carbon neutral event.

Booths will provide an educational smorgasbord, music will tap your groove and sustainable food will please your stomach.

Portland State University Earth Day Festival

Friday, April 22, 2011

11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

South Park Blocks, Portland State University

PSU students will host this 4th annual Earth Day festival, featuring outdoor performances by bands, speakers, food, community groups, vendors, sustainable demonstrations, and more.

Carbon Footprint Fair at Jefferson High School on Earth Day

Friday, April 22, 2011

10:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Jefferson High School Gymnasium

5200 N Commercial (one block south of N. Portland Library Branch on N. Killingsworth)

Did you know that Jefferson High School was one of 10 schools nationally that was chosen to install solar panels on their school roof? Join some of the city’s coolest high school students to learn how to reduce your impact on the planet and much more. A great opportunity to show Jefferson students how much you appreciate the work they’re doing on all of our behalf while celebrating what Earth Day is all about. Raffle too!

 PAST EVENTS:

Learning Gardens Laboratory Earth Day Celebration

Saturday, April 16

11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

6801 SE 60th Ave., across from Brentwood Park

Community members are invited to attend the FREE family-friendly event that will include educational booths and workshops on gardening and sustainable horticulture for both children and adults. The event will also include free food, live music, children’s activities, a plant give away and door prizes.

Free workshops taught by PSU, OSU Extension, Multnomah County Master Gardeners, and City of Portland staff include Unusual Small Fruits and Medicinal Plants.

OHSU Earth Week Celebration

April 18 - 22, 2011

Various venues

OHSU 's Green Team kicks off a week of great events starting Monday, April 18th with a Green Building Tour of the Center for Health and Healing (RSVP required). Guided nature hike, a plant sale and a sustainability tour are just some of the 10 Earth Week events to check out.

SmartTrips North-Northeast Preview Series

It's actually beginning to feel like spring outside. Is this going to be the year that you get out bicycling?

If you are looking to freshen up on your cycling skills or just go for a fun, low-stress bicycle ride, then Portland By Cycle's series of free bike clinics and rides is for you.

You will learn easy routes to get around by bike, how to plan your bike trip and how to ride safely in traffic. Never learned how to change a flat? We've got a class for that too. 

The first clinic is May 17th. The spring time clinics are followed  by more than 20 awesome group bike rides. Start off PBC ride season sugar buzzed with the Sweet Summer Cycle on July 5th and 6th: visit doughnut shops, ice cream parlors and other sweet shops by bike. Free samples included!

All rides and clinics are FREE. Rides require a helmet. For PBC rides, all riders under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Read the other SmartTrips North-Northeast previews:

Senior Strolls and Senior Cycles

Guided Walks Throughout North and NE Portland

Women on Bikes Gets Rolling in May

It's never to early to plan for next year... If your school could use a little cash to kick-start walking and biking this coming September, look no further. The National Center for Safe Routes to School has opened up another call for applications for it's $1,000 mini-grants. Portland's own Emerson School was one of 25 schools nation-wide to receive an award last time (read more about their project here). Let us know if you have questions about your proposal.

National Center for Safe Routes to School Seeks Applications for $1,000 Grants

Call for Applications for Fall 2011 Activities
 

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (April 19, 2010) -- The National Center for Safe Routes to School is now accepting applications for 25 mini-grants of $1,000 each. These mini-grants support the goal of Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs, which is to enable and encourage children to safely walk and bicycle to school. SRTS programs are implemented nationwide by parents, students, schools, community leaders, and local, state, and tribal governments. Applications are due Wednesday, May 18, 2011.

The National Center’s SRTS mini-grant program, now in its fourth award cycle, seeks creative ideas that match a school’s needs and interests together with ways to help improve safety and/or increase the number of students walking and rolling to school. They may fund activities ranging from the nuts and bolts that help start or sustain a program to new ideas that explore the range of benefits of safe walking and bicycling.

Selected mini-grant proposals will fit a school's identified needs and interests. It may help to engage a variety of student and adult leaders to decide what kind of changes the school would like to accomplish and the types of activities that could support these changes. The goal of this program is to support schools' and communities' needs related to walking and bicycling programs, as well as to involve students' creativity and leadership at an age-appropriate level. There are many right answers, and creativity and innovation are encouraged.

Mini-grant activities should occur between August 1, 2011, and the end of the Fall 2011 semester. The National Center encourages applicants to use student creativity along with student and adult leaders to identify their school's needs and interests and to propose safe walking/bicycling activities that address those needs and interests.

For more information and to submit a mini-grant application, visit minigrants.saferoutesinfo.org.

In 2015, TriMet will open their fifth MAX line, the Portland Milwaukie Orange Line. TriMet recently released a flyover video simulation of the route with lots of interesting factoids.

Not only will the Orange Line provide excellent transit access for residents, commuters and customers in SE Portland and Milwaukie, pedestrians and bicyclists will benefit as well. TriMet is investing $35 million in pedestrian and bicycle improvements along the route.

These investments include Portland's first transit, pedestrian and bicycle only bridge, which will be built between the Marquam and Ross Island bridges.

SmartTrips North-Northeast Preview

Do you enjoy walking, chatting with your fellow Portlanders and learning about great assets in our dear city? The SmartTrips Ten Toe Express program may be for you.

Beginning May 5^th, Ten Toes will host 16 walks in North and Northeast Portland. All walks are free.

Interested in local parks, neighborhood and cultural history, or urban transportation facilities? Check out the Paul Bunyan to the Parks, Overlook Views, Historic Hollywood and Cully Green Streets walks.

The walks begin on Thursdays at 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:00 a.m. All walks begin and end along transit routes.

For more information download the Ten Toe program brochure or contact Rich Cassidy, rich.cassidy@portlandoregon.gov, 503-823-6051.

Read the other SmartTrips North-Northeast previews:

Women on Bikes Gets Rolling in May

Senior Strolls and Senior Cycles

Portland By Cycle Rides and Clinics