Mark your calendars and celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day at Merchantville’s Earth Fair on Saturday, May 9th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This FREE event is sponsored by The Borough of Merchantville and The Merchantville Task Force and, hosted by the Borough’s Sustainability Partners – The Green Team, The Garden Club, Incredible Edible Merchantville, The Shade Tree Commission, The MES Junior Green Team and Merchantville 4H Club. The fair will feature eco-friendly exhibitors, non-profits, and businesses from the greater South Jersey area at booths on waste recycling, pollinator gardens, reducing your carbon footprint, backyard chickens, natural health, electric cars and edible landscaping. Attendees of all ages will learn about earth-friendly topics, environmental issues, green practices and simple lifestyle changes to attain sustainable living. The fair will also offer lots of children’s activities, educational programs, demonstrations, live animals, music, food and games. Merchantville’s Earth Fair will provide a great opportunity to enjoy a day in our historic downtown learning about environmental issues and simple, sustainable living solutions. Vendors may submit applications here.

The Jane Goodall Institute's global youth program - Roots & Shoots - flourishes in nearly 100 countries partnering withWe partner with schools, educators and youth organizations to inspire and educate young people to make a difference on an individual level. Participants identify and address problems in their communities, while becoming the compassionate citizens that our planet needs. Since 2014, the Roots & Shoots mini-grant program has awarded over 500 grants to Roots & Shoots groups in the United States. Mini-grants range from $200-$400 each. Groups are guided by the Roots & Shoots 4 step model to create youth-led service learning campaigns. Once they have chosen a campaign idea, members of all ages are encouraged to apply. Groups use the funds to help implement their projects and celebrate their accomplishments. 

Crayola ColorCycle was launched to help kids in schools across the USA to understand the importance of their role in protecting the environment. Through this initiative, students in K-12 schools can collect and repurpose used Crayola markers. ColorCycle is also a great opportunity for teachers and their students to explore eco-friendly practices. Specially developed standards-based lesson plans are available to enrich instruction and promote lively class discussions. FedEx Ground will pick up the markers — Crayola pays all shipping charges!

Cafeterias and kitchens in county buildings will soon begin filling recycling containers instead of dumpsters thanks to a pilot program to lessen the environmental impact of facilities owned and operated by the county approved by the Freeholder Board. Proposals are currently being accepted to find a vendor who will collect food waste generated during meal preparation and transport it to local composting and food recycling sites. Mass production county kitchens produce thousands of pounds of food waste during preparation, however, potato skins, banana peels and other organic materials can be recycled and reused. The county is looking for a vendor to supply bins to store food waste then, collect and deliver it to sites where it can be reused as animal feed or recycled via composting or anaerobic digestion.

Whether you live in a city, suburb, or on land in the country, this essential guide for the backyard homesteader by Kris Bordessa will help you achieve a homespun life–from starting your own garden and pickling the food you grow to pressing wildflowers, baking sourdough loaves, quilting, raising chickens, and creating your own natural cleaning supplies. In National Geographic's Attainable Sustainable's beautifully illustrated pages, makers will find an indispensable home reference for sustainability in the 21st century. This book will teach you how to nurture a healthy relationship with the natural world from growing some of your own food—even if you live in an apartment to embracing home food preservation, from canning to fermenting and pickling.

For several years, the county has found a 21st-century way of getting around the seasonal barrier. It prepares and provides various plants and vegetables to nonprofits and county groups through the use of a hydroponics greenhouse that needs no soil, as well as a traditional greenhouse at its Lakeland Campus - allowing for heads of lettuce to be grown in as little as one month from plant to harvest, with the fastest batch growing in just 12 days. Through the Office of Sustainability, master gardeners and staff use advanced growing techniques to provide nonprofits and other organizations such as The Cathedral Kitchen and The Philadelphia Zoo lettuce, cherry tomatoes, herbs and more items throughout the year.