Riley Keller (at left) of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources holds up two turtles for fifth graders from Midway Elementary School in Lincoln County during events celebrating Earth Day at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
Klaiton Wilson (center), a fourth grader at Midway Elementary School in Lincoln County, holds a corn snake exhibited by Roy Moose (at left) of the Cranberry Glades Nature Center as fourth-grader Gavin Phillips (at right) looks on during an Earth Day event at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
Fifth graders from Midway Elementary School in Lincoln County learn about recyclable and non-recyclable items which recycle and items that don’t from Niki Davis of the Solid Waste Management Authority (second from left) during an Earth Day event at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
Riley Keller (at left) of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources holds up two turtles for fifth graders from Midway Elementary School in Lincoln County during events celebrating Earth Day at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
Klaiton Wilson (center), a fourth grader at Midway Elementary School in Lincoln County, holds a corn snake exhibited by Roy Moose (at left) of the Cranberry Glades Nature Center as fourth-grader Gavin Phillips (at right) looks on during an Earth Day event at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
Fifth graders from Midway Elementary School in Lincoln County learn about recyclable and non-recyclable items which recycle and items that don’t from Niki Davis of the Solid Waste Management Authority (second from left) during an Earth Day event at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
Students celebrated the 55th annual Earth Day Tuesday in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä with hands-on exhibits and displays at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences.
About 200 middle and elementary school students from Lincoln and McDowell counties learned more about the environment by getting up close and personal with turtles and snakes, and they learned about the benefits of and rules for recycling many everyday items.
Staffers from the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and the Department of Environmental Protection guided the students through the exhibits.
The idea for Earth Day was conceived in 1970 by U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, D-Wisc. On April 22 of that year, 20 million people took to the streets to protest oil spills, polluted rivers and air pollution. The two largest gatherings were in Washington, D.C. and New York City. Those nationwide protests led to the establishment of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, proposed by President Richard Nixon and voted into law in late 1970.
Earth Day has since spread globally to champion the environmental movement.
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