Eco-Celebrations Abound Downtown
This Saturday, April 22, Earth Day observances in Lower Manhattan, all free, will appeal to a broad range of interests.
On Governors Island, a day of educational activities and workshops for all ages will include guided tours of the Island’s climate-resilient landscapes and Urban Farm, a bird walk focused on seasonal migratory birds, a hands-on workshop on making seed balls with the Trust’s horticulture team, insect ecology activities, bicycling lessons, and more.
Governors Island will also host morning volunteer projects, with participants invited to join high-impact stewardship activities with Trust for Governors Island gardeners, the Billion Oyster Project, the National Park Service, Earth Matter, and the Bee Conservancy. Projects will focus on landscape care and are suitable for all ages and ability levels. Tools and materials will be provided.
Advanced registration is recommended for some Governors Island activities.
On Saturday at Rockefeller Park, the Battery Park City Authority will present “Earth Day: S.T.E.A.M. Dream,” at which kids will be invited to hone their science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics skills at an open-air fair featuring engaging activities and a live performance from Mad Science. At the Skyscraper Museum (39 Battery Place), kids six years and up will learn about environmentally conscious green buildings in New York and around the world, then use what they have learned to create a model green neighborhood in the program “Earth Day: Turn a New York Skyscraper Green.”
On Saturday evening, Brookfield Place will host the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra in the Winter Garden, for a free concert performance of “Music of Our Sphere,” inspired by Pythagoras’s philosophical concept that celestial bodies make music as they move through the heavens, and that through this connection, humanity is one with the universe. The program includes the world premiere of a new cantata “In Every Grain of Sand,” composed by Knickerbocker founder and music director Gary S. Fagin, which takes its title from words by Rachel Carson, the author of “Silent Spring.” Admission is free and no reservation is required.