Sierra Club to host Earth Day event at Fairfield arts center April 20

FAIRFIELD – Fairfield residents will be treated to hours of free fun and education during this year’s Sierra Club Earth Day on Saturday, April 20.

The event is formally known as the “Resilient Community Challenge,” and it will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. It will include a few panels of speakers both local and nationally known, as well as a repair fair, clothing swap and Eco-fashion show.

The theme of the event is “Pioneering Circular Solutions for Our Community,” referring to its goal of reducing waste by giving new life to previously used items. The Southeast Iowa Sierra Club is spearheading the activities, and it’s joined by 20 other sponsors and collaborators.

Southeast Iowa Sierra Club Co-Chair Margaret Dwyer said the last two Earth Day events in Fairfield have attracted big crowds, with about 300 people last year and 350 the year before that. Those events were held at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, but the speakers and booths had to be divided into two buildings. This year, the organizers wanted everything to be under one roof, which is why they moved it to the arts center’s expo hall.

“We hope this event is even bigger than before,” Dwyer said. “We have some high-powered people coming to speak.”

The keynote speaker for the day will be David Levine of the American Sustainable Business Council, who will be interviewed by Fairfield Sustainability Coordinator Faith Reeves from 11-11:30 a.m. That will be followed by a panel of nationally known speakers from 11:30 a.m. to noon, including Martin Wolf of Seventh Generation cleaning products, CEO of “Redu” Sustainable Furniture Amber Lasciak, and Alden Wicker, author of “To Dye For.”

A panel of “local heroes” will speak from 2-3 p.m. that afternoon. This panel will include Terry Philips of Washington, who will speak about his efforts to preserve historic buildings, as well as Ben Harris of Green Building Supply, Francis Thicke of Radiance Dairy, and Cheyenne Holliday of Golden Magnolia Sanctuary.

Southeast Iowa Sierra Club’s Anne Walton said that, following the panels, Maharishi School’s Global Solutions Class will give a presentation on their six months of research where they focused on a global problem and proposed a solution. That will be followed by an Eco-fashion show. Dwyer said that’s an opportunity for the public to show off the clothing they made from recycled bottle caps, buttons, plastic bags and all sorts of things.

While the Eco-fashion show is going on, the Deep Green Machine’s Maker Space behind the Breadtopia building will host a Circular Economy Solution Competition. This is an all-day facilitated workshop for high school and college student teams to participate in a “hackathon” where they’ll be given a pile of junk and tasked with making something useful from it.

“They’ll have to think about how the [materials] can be reused in a meaningful way,” Dwyer said. “They’ll have mentors to help them, and Habitat ReStore is donating tools.”

The teams will be judged at the end of the day and the winning team will receive prizes.

Dwyer said it wouldn’t truly be a festival without music, so the Fairfield High School jazz band is scheduled to perform, along with a band from Maharishi International University and a musician from Maharishi School.

Addi’s Ethiopian Restaurant in the arts center will be open that day, as will Taco Dreams across the street in the Fairfield Food Collective. Dwyer noted that both businesses are normally closed on Saturdays but they’re making an exception for this Earth Day event.

Another booth to look forward to this year is the repair fair, which the Sierra Club has held during the farmers’ market before. Members of the public are invited to bring in household items that need to be fixed, and a specialist will try their best to fix it. There may be a charge involved in the repair.

A bus will run on the hour between MIU and the arts center. Walton said the group is trying to promote walking, biking and public transportation since this is a “zero waste” event. Dwyer said booths will be dedicated to zero waste learning sessions to educate the public about transitioning to a circular economy.

“A circular economy can continually take assets, make products and design them so at the end of their life, they can be taken apart and reused or repaired,” Dwyer said. “It makes our finite materials available longer, and the circular model is also designed to mitigate the effects of climate change.”

Applications to participate in the Eco-fashion show and Hackathon must be submitted to seiowasierraclub@gmail.com by Friday, April 5.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com