Earth Day Marin: Create a Better World

We had a wonderful time at Earth Day Marin 2023, our popular festival at the Mill Valley Community Center last April 23, 2023!
Our free community event was a big success! We welcomed participants of all ages and backgrounds, from all across Marin and the Bay Area. They were inspired to create a better world through fun activities, green exhibits, music, art, a youth zone and more. Over 75+ exhibits hosted by green businesses and community groups helped visitors learn about climate actions each of us can take to protect our future, such as: use clean energy, eat sustainably, ride electric vehicles, electrify your home, live lightly and build healthy communities. Learn more below.
Earth Day Marin was hosted by Green Change, with support from Mill Valley Recreation, Bay Area Air Quality Management District, City of Mill Valley, County of Marin, Marin Community Foundation, Rex Foundation, MCE Clean Energy, Outdoor Art Club, Sustainable Marin – and many more partners, listed below. Thanks to all our exhibitors and participants for your wonderful contributions to our climate movement!

Join Earth Day Mill Valley 2024!

Join us again this year at Earth Day Mill Valley 2024, on Sunday, April 21, 2024, from 11am to 2pm, back at the Mill Valley Community Center in Marin County. 
Our free, family-friendly event will feature fun activities, green exhibits, art and music for all ages, in a beautiful outdoor setting. You will learn about clean energy and transportation, sustainable food and gardening, green homes, electrification and community action.  
Earth Day Mill Valley is organized by Mill Valley Recreation, in collaboration with Green Change, Marin Master Gardeners and many more partners from across Marin and the Bay Area. Green Change will welcome visitors in our Climate Action Center with the big earth globe, to host fun climate games and answer questions about sustainable living.
Sign up here to register and receive email updates. We hope to see you in April! 

See our Photos and Videos

For a preview of what Earth Day Marin was like, enjoy our favorite photos and videos of Earth Day Marin 2023:
Seeing all the creative energy and smiling faces at our Earth Day event gives us hope for the future of our climate movement. 🙂
For event highlights, be sure to watch our fun Earth Day Marin Trailer, shown above. Then crank up the sound for great music by Lola Guthrie, Andre ThierryandMatt Jaffe. More videos coming soon! For more photos, browse our full iCloud photo album of first selects. Or go behind-the-scenes as we prepare for the event: Making of Earth Day MarinandHanging the Art at Nature’s Hope and Fury. 
You are welcome to share any of these photos and videos in your community, as well as add your comments and likes on our Facebook and Instagram feeds. All our photos and videos are freely licensed with attribution, under Creative Commons (CC-BY-4.0), in return for a credit to GreenChange.net and our photographers.
Many thanks to all our photographers and videographers for capturing these great memories of our event! They include: Omar Alami, Anita Baker, Griffith Ballard, Stu Bass, Lee Callister, Clari Cespedes, Luis Costa, Dana Dworin, Fabrice Florin, Zoe Fry, Liam Keane, Peter Joseph, Gil Latimer, Tobey Ling-Winick, Kevin Morrison, George Osner, Tim Požar, Omid Shamsapour, Michael Wanger and Callie Zimmerman. And kudos to Kevin Morrison, Michael Wanger and Fabrice Florin for editing our videos for your viewing pleasure. 🙂

Highlights

This year’s Earth Day Marin featured a wide range of popular attractions:

Impact

Earth Day Marin 2023 was a big success! Here’s what we accomplished together.
We welcomed about 1,500 participants of all ages and backgrounds, from all across Marin and the Bay Area.  We brought together a diverse community of partners, musicians, artists, speakers, educators, youth, volunteers and visitors from all across Marin and the Bay Area.
Most participants we surveyed said our event was excellent or very good (75% of survey responses). They particularly liked our booths, music, activities, art, evs and youth programs
What did our event accomplish? Earth Day Marin helped build a community of activists, welcomed young people, promoted our partners and helped us take action.
Participants told us they learned about many climate actions, such as: using clean energy, biking and walking more, consuming less, driving an electric car, protecting nature, saving water, managing our waste, promoting climate justice, supporting young activists and building healthy communities!
The best part is that 65% of survey respondents told us they plan to take one or more climate actions this year! That’s music to our ears … 🙂
Overall, our big environmental festival delivered a higher impact than last year’s event: more partners, more visitors, more activities, more youth, more diversity, deeper engagement, more learning opportunities – and more community connections. What’s not to like?
We are grateful to all our participants for sharing our positive vision of building a more just and sustainable world, through action!
To learn more, see our first report and slides. More detailed reports will be available this summer.

Meet our partners

Here are the partners who exhibited and/or sponsored Earth Day Marin:

Active Mill ValleyArt Works for ChangeAutistry Studios • Bay Area Air Quality Management District • Bellows ServiceBye Bye MattressCalifornia SunlightCity of Mill ValleyClimate Reality Bay AreaCounty of Marin • Creekside Pizza & TaproomEquator Coffees • Friends of Alto TunnelGood Earth Natural FoodsGreen ChangeHarvest Thermal • John Owens Services • Mad Dogs & EnglishmenMarin Citizens’ Climate Lobby • Marin Community Foundation  • Marin County Bicycle Coalition • Marin County Sustainability Team • Marin Sanitary • Marin SEL • Marin WaterMCE Clean Energy • Mill Valley Emergency Preparedness CommissionMill Valley Recreation • Mill Valley Refuse ServiceMill Valley Seniors for Peace • Mill Valley StreamKeepersOFA MarinOrganic Cleaning Supreme • Outdoor Art Club • PactQuitCarbonResilient Neighborhoods • Rex FoundationRide and Drive Clean • Straus Family Creamery • Surfrider FoundationSustainable MarinSustainable Mill ValleySustainable San Rafael350 MarinTransportation Authority of MarinVitality BowlsWastewater Treatment Agencies of MarinWTB-TAM • World Wrapps • YardSmartMarinYouth Action Through Art, Zero Waste Marin and more!

Thanks to all our gracious partners for making Earth Day Marin possible!
We invite you to visit their websites, where they can help you take action for a better worldSee their logos below.

Take Action

We created Earth Day to help each other take climate action in our own lives.
Green Change greeters welcomed visitors at our Climate Action Center and invited them to learn about climate action, as well as make a green pledge for actions they want to take — or share an action they had already taken. They could also play our Earth Day Quest, for a chance to win Earth Day Prizes.
To make it easy for them, we had big signs with our recommended actions, with QR codes linking to Green Change‘s online Action Guides and Green Tips:
ENERGY: Use Renewable ElectricityUse Home BatteriesSwitch to LEDs
• TRANSPORT: Drive an Electric Car• Ride an Electric BikeTake Public Transit
• HOME: Electrify your HomeWeatherize your HomePrepare for Wildfire
• FOOD: Eat Less MeatDon’t Waste FoodGrow Your Own Food
• LIVING: Live Lightly • Save WaterUse Less Plastic
• POLITICS: Support Climate Justice, Support Young Activists, Support Green Leaders
Hundreds of participants stopped by and appreciated this unique opportunity to learn about all the actions they could take to make a green change in their lives.

Featured Activities 

Earth Day Marin offers a wide range of playful and informative activities for all ages:

Anytown USA • Earth WheelGreen PledgesCooperationMake Your Own Art • Make Your Own SignMother Earth Puppet PlayhouseWhat Goes Where

Meet the Musicians

Here are some of the musicians who performed on Earth Day Marin’s outdoor stage:

Matt Jaffe, Andre Thierry, Lola Guthrie, Freedom Singers, Michael Ryther, Dore Coller, Pilár, Alma Soongi Beck< – and more!

They played a wide range of music, from rock ‘n roll to bluegrass, K-Pop dance, sing-alongs, and zydeco soul music.

Meet the Speakers

Here are some of the community leaders who spoke on Earth Day Marin’s outdoor stage:

Damon Connolly • Stephanie Moulton-PetersJim Wickham • Max PerreyHarita Kalvai • Nicole GardnerAnne-Christine StrugnellFabrice Florin

They spoke about individual and collective actions we can take in our own lives to create a better world.

Our outdoor stage was hosted by Green Change team lead Kevin Morrison, with the help of sound engineer Paul Thomas, tech director Tim Pozar and other gracious volunteers. We are grateful to them all!

Meet the Artists

Here are some of the artists who exhibited at Earth Day Marin:

Tess Felix • Fabrice Florin • Phyllis FlorinJaney FritscheAl GrumetFreddy HahneRodger JacobsenTom KillionRichard and Judith LangSuzanne Lewis • Geo Monley • Zea Morvitz • Tim Park • Debbie PatrickHoward RheingoldErnesto SanchezLaurie Mahan SawyerStuart SharpeRichard ShawDonna Solin •  Helen StanleyVi©kisa  … and more!

Art Exhibits at Earth Day

Green Change and our partners hosted 3 art exhibits to celebrate Earth Day:

Electric Vehicles 

Visitors checked out the latest electric cars at the EV & Ebike Show by Ride and Drive Clean! 

And they test-rode ebikes with Mad Dogs & Englishmen in our back lot!

Folks also learned more about cycling our special Bike Zone, featuring the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC), WTB-TAM, Active Mill Valley and Friends of Alto Tunnel

People cycling to the event were happy to use our Free Bike Valet Parking hosted by MCBC in the Mill Valley Middle School lot (see parking map).

Play Games

Visitors joined some fun, climate-themed games to inspire action and environmental awareness.
Carnival games included: Stop, Drop and Roll – a bean bag tossing game; and Climate Jenga, out on the lawn.
Video games in the indoor Cascade Room include Snake, a game that explores humanity’s relationship with fossil fuels; Tipping Point, a game about solutions to the climate crisis; and Carbon Crush, a game to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Youth Activities

Young people from across Marin and the Bay Area participated in a broad range of youth activities, including: a climate advocacy workshop, youth art exhibit, poetry reading, tabling and volunteer opportunities. 
We also offer a range of fun activities for younger children, including art making, earth wheel, puppets and more.

Healthy Food

Earth Day Marin offered healthy, organic and tasty food from our partners.

Thanks to our partners!

We are grateful to all our partners who made Earth Day Marin possible:

Active Mill ValleyArt Works for ChangeAutistry Studios • Bay Area Air Quality Management District • Bellows ServiceBye Bye MattressCalifornia SunlightCity of Mill ValleyClimate Reality Bay AreaCounty of Marin • Creekside Pizza & TaproomEquator Coffees • Friends of Alto TunnelGood Earth Natural FoodsGreen ChangeHarvest Thermal • John Owens Services • Mad Dogs & EnglishmenMarin Citizens’ Climate Lobby • Marin City Climate Resilience • Marin Community Foundation  • Marin County Bicycle Coalition • Marin County Sustainability Team • Marin WaterMCE Clean Energy • Mill Valley Refuse ServiceMill Valley RecreationMill Valley Seniors for Peace • Mill Valley StreamKeepersMVFREEOFA MarinOrganic Cleaning Supreme • Outdoor Art Club • PactPlay MarinQuitCarbonResilient Neighborhoods • Rex FoundationRide and Drive Clean • Straus Family Creamery • Surfrider FoundationSustainable MarinSustainable Mill ValleySustainable San Rafael350 MarinTransportation Authority of MarinVitality BowlsWastewater Treatment Agencies of MarinWTB-TAM • World Wrapps • YardSmartMarinYouth Action Through Art and more!

Thanks to all our partners for their generous support!
We invite you to visit their websites, where they can help you take action for a better world.

Design and images by Fabrice Florin, with our fellow photographers, partners and collaborators. Poster art by Stuart Sharpe.

Thanks to all our contributors!