Free Bikes, Composting Bins, and Eco-Lessons For Living:
California Academy of Sciences Celebrates 30th Anniversary of Earth Day

SAN FRANCISCO (April 5, 2000) - On April 22, over 500 million people worldwide are expected to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Earth Day. In honor of Earth Day, the California Academy of Sciences will celebrate the diversity of life on earth with two full days of activities that will inform, educate, and entertain museum visitors. Visitors can enter drawings to win new bicycles, composting bins, Academy memberships, and more. Those who ride a bike to the Academy of Sciences on April 22nd or 23rd will have a free, secure bicycle check service at the front entrance to the Academy, courtesy of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Those who come to the museum by bicycle or bus will also receive free admission to the museum. Representatives from the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners (SLUG), Strybing Arboretum, and SF Recycles will be on hand to provide demonstrations for turning food wastes into black gold for your garden, gardening with California native plants, growing your own food, and recycling. A special tour of the museum highlighting the diversity of life through the museum’s exhibitions will teach visitors what biodiversity is, why it is important, and the role science plays in conservation.

Other Earth Day festivities include:

Saturday, April 22
11 a.m. Stories of the Earth with storyteller Mary Ellen Hill

11:30 & 3 pm Endangered Raptors: Meet a live peregrine falcon and learn how scientists are protecting magnificent raptors in California.

12:30 & 2:30 pm Rattlesnakes Alive! Get up close and personal with a live Northern Pacific rattlesnake and learn their intriguing habits in the Bay Area.

1 pm Academy Mural Project
Come paint with us and Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center

2 pm Cranes of the World featuring Dr. George Archibald Director and co-founder of the International Crane Foundation

Sunday, April 23
11:15 & 1 pm Animals of the Earth
See a live alligator, observe a California desert tortoise and learn how to help animals of the earth.

1:30 pm Stories of the Earth

2 pm Dr. Art’s Planet Earth Show Explore matter, energy and life webs with this scientist who has playfully labored the past twenty years in developing innovative methods to teach environmental and scientific concepts.