I’m so excited for Springtime and April. There are so many wonderful environmental things going on this time of year.

The first thing that I am excited about is Earth Day, which is April 22. Being the nature lover I am, I have always loved Earth Day. I always think of it as a day where we should stop and appreciate Mother Nature.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency said the first Earth Day was in April 1970. Senator Gaylord Nelson created Earth Day as a way to force the environmental and pollution issue onto the national agenda. Twenty million Americans demonstrated in different U.S. cities, and it worked.

In December 1970, Congress authorized the creation of a new federal agency to tackle environmental issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The History Channel website said Earth Day was the brainchild of Nelson and was inspired by the antiwar protests of the late 1960s. The day was originally aimed at creating a mass environmental movement.

Earth Day began as a “national teach-in on the environment” and was held on April 22 to maximize the number of students that could be reached on university campuses. By raising public awareness of air and water pollution, Nelson hoped to bring environmental causes into the national spotlight. So this April 22 go out, enjoy the fresh air and thank Senator Gaylord Nelson for the wonderful day.

For St. John residents the next day is also a fun environmental day. April 23 is Spring Clean Sweep. Spring Clean Sweep begins at 8:30 a.m. April 23. Volunteers will meet at the Thomas F. Daley Memorial Park located on U.S. 51.

Clean Sweep is something the Parish does every year that involves hundreds of volunteers, schools, churches and civic organizations.

Communications director Baileigh Rebowe Helm said volunteers are given garbage bags, gloves, trash clamps and other tools they will need.

“After the clean up is over, which is around 11:30 a.m. or noon, people will return to Thomas F. Daley Park,” Helm said. “We will have refreshments, a band and celebrate the clean up efforts of the day. We encourage our residents to come out and take action in working towards making a cleaner community.”

Since I’ve only been in St. John for a few months I haven’t experienced Spring Clean Sweep, but I was lucky enough to attend the one in the fall. If the Spring event is anything like the one in Fall I’m pretty excited. Groups of people gather together to achieve a common goal, cleaning their community. People don’t seem to mind picking up the trash, even when some items are kind of questionable, because they know by picking it up they are making St. John more beautiful for its residents and visitors.

If anyone is interested in participating in the Parishwide clean-up day, call 985-652-9569 or visit sjbparish.com.

The last environmental day in April that I’m looking forward to is National Arbor Day. The first Arbor Day was held April 10, 1872, in Nebraska. It was the brainchild of Julius Sterling Morton, a Nebraska journalist and politician originally from Michigan. The website Tree Help said Morton felt Nebraska’s landscape and economy would benefit from the wide-scale planting of trees. He set an example himself, planting orchards, shade trees and windbreaks on his own farm. He urged his neighbors to do the same.

I found this cool countdown clock on the Arbor Day Foundation website counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds until April 29. I personally plan to plant a tree this Arbor Day, I just haven’t decided what type of tree or where, but I’m working on all of that.

So many trees, well too many in my mind, are cut down and not being replaced. I understand we need to cut down trees for wood, paper and other things, but we aren’t the only creatures that use trees.

Beavers use them for damns, bees use them to anchor their hives, and birds and other woodland creatures use them as homes and a place to find food.

There are plenty of different planets, but we only have one Earth and we need to learn to take better care of it. So this April take part in different activities, locally or nationally, to keep St. John and the Earth beautiful.

Raquel Derganz Baker is the news reporter for L’OBSERVATEUR. Email her at raquel.derbaker@lobservateur.com.