Celebrating Earth Month with One Million Acts of Science

April is Earth Month and participating in science projects is an important way to learn more about the environment. The Participatory Science movement is designed to increase scientific knowledge by asking people to be part of projects that need data from as many locations as possible to monitor changes in large areas and populations, like ocean rise and butterflies. Participatory science projects can also include observing how insects interact with plants, identifying images in a database, and contributing photos of the natural world.

How to Participate

Want to join a national or global project? Sign up for Scistarter’s One Million Acts of Science to find a project that will contribute data to projects like observing clouds, counting pollinators, and analyzing images. Join in local activities like a bioblitz, litter clean-up, or native plant gardening. Here are some highlights of events you can participate in locally: 

• Pick up a packet of Lemon Queen sunflower seeds from the Seed Library at Rinconada and plant them to participate in the Great Sunflower Project to help identify pollinator patterns.  
• As you admire the spring tree blossoms, take a picture of the tree and blossoms and submit it to the Budburst project to help create a data set for conservation projects.  
• Children ages 6-9 can make California wildflower seed bombs at this month’s STEAM Lab, Sunday, April 6 from 3:00—4:00 at Rinconada Library. 
• Get ideas about including native plants in the landscape with the Going Native Garden Tour that features free tours of native gardens all around the Bay Area April 12-13.  
• Bring your little ones to one (or more!) of our Earth Day-themed Storytimes, April 16-24. 
• April 25-28 use the iNaturalist app to participate in the City Nature Challenge and send in pictures of plants and wildlife. 
• Save the date for the Palo Alto Earth Day Festival Sunday, April 27 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm at the Art Center Auditorium for an afternoon of celebrating sustainability and learning how you can help the planet. 

Celebrate Through Reading

Here are some library resources for more inspiration on how you can celebrate Earth Month:

• For adults: One Million Acts of Science 
• For children: One Million Acts of Science: Books for Young Readers 
• For teens: One Million Acts of Science: Books for Teens

Created by Rebecca Kohn and Jennifer Taylor.