Earth Week 2023

Join Red Wing Earth Week 2023

Improving Our Habitat for a Healthier Planet 

Community Activities and Events Schedule

Globe graphic with Red Wing Earth Week text

Community Activities Throughout the Week

Be a Planet Earth Advocate – Make an Earth Day Sign for Your Front Window

Speaking up from home is a great way for you and your children to become involved. The classic cardboard sign (or poster board, paper, or whatever’s at hand) can let your neighbors know that taking care of our planet is important to you and your children. Here are some inspirational ideas: “Let’s Rise Up before the Seas Do,” “No Nature, No Future,” “Food Waste isn’t Good Taste,” “Fight Climate Change with Diet Change,” Mother Earth Doesn’t like Quitters; Pick Up Your Litter,” Don’t Be Trashy, Buy Less Plastic."  

Man picking up a piece of litter and placing it in a trash bagLitter Cleanup 7 Bags in 7 Days Challenge

Litter adversely affects the environment. Littering along the road, on the streets, or by the litter bins means toxic materials or chemicals in litter can be blown or washed into rivers, forests, and lakes and can eventually pollute waterways, soil, or aquatic environments. During Earth Week, challenge yourself, friends, and family to become more aware of trash in your neighborhoods, backyards, sidewalks and collect a bag of litter each day from around your neighborhood, in our parks, along our streets, and our green spaces. Help track our community progress by signing up here.

Treasures on the Trails – Connecting the Arts with Nature

Red Wing Arts Treasures on the Trail is an Earth Day finders-keepers art-in-nature program. Red Wing Arts designed this program during the week surrounding Earth Day to celebrate and bring attention to the arts, as well as the natural beauty of the Red Wing’s parks and greenways. Treasures will be "hidden in plain sight" – no need to venture off the trail. Those who find the trail treasures get to keep them. Make it an annual family tradition!

Earth Week Walking Bingo

Walking is one of the easiest ways to be active.  The Red Wing Family YMCA is offering a Walking Bingo contest and 2 group walks during Earth Week.  Walking Bingo is open to everyone in the community and is free.  Pick up your Walking Bingo Card at the YMCA.  For more information contact Emily Hadler at ehadler@redwingymca.org.

Linden treeRed Wing Earth Week Tree Giveaway – Plant a Tree and Help Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

To celebrate Earth Week, we are giving away trees to kids, adults, and families to take home and plant. We have selected the American Linden tree for its relatively low maintenance with bee attracting flowers. To register to receive a tree, please email earthdaytreesrw@gmail.com with your name, address, and contact information. One tree per household. Must be willing to water and care for tree until self-sufficient. Tree will be approximately three feet. Must be available Friday, April 21, between 11 a.m.-6 p.m. for pick up at Red Wing Public Library, 225 East Avenue, Red Wing, MN 55066. View the Red Wing Earth Week Tree Giveaway Flyer (PDF). Sponsored by Red Wing Shoe Company, Sargent’s Nursery, Red Wing Public Library, Resilient Red Wing, and the Sustainability Commission.

Adopt a Drain – Help Keep the Mississippi River Clean

When it rains in Red Wing, stormwater runs straight from our streets into the Mississippi River through the city's storm drains.  Anything carried in the stormwater, including grass clippings, leaves, pesticides, animal waste, and trash, also ends up in the river. For more information or to adopt a drain, click here.

Water in front of glacier on a cloudy dayNORTH

NORTH is an installation by Mary Ellen Childs, co-presented by Anderson Center and Zeitgeist New Music at the Anderson Center Untitled Gallery, 163 Tower View Drive, on Wednesday, April 19 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thursday, April 20 from 11 a.m.-7 pm; Friday, April 21 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; and Saturday, April 22 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

NORTH is a multi-sensory, immersive experience in the Anderson Center’s new, untitled gallery. NORTH showcases the habitat of the Arctic and reflects on human impacts on the most remote parts of our planet. This groundbreaking installation by Mary Ellen Childs was created in collaboration with visual artist Lindsy Halleckson, the musicians of Zeitgeist, and videographers Tamara Ober & Caitlin Hammel. Click here for more information.

Bike & Walk More – Give It a Try During Earth Week

How many times do you use your car to go somewhere in a week? Many people use cars a couple of times per day. We get in them when we go to and from work, drop off and pick up our kids from school, go to the grocery store, etc. Walking or riding a bike uses minimal fossil fuels. This means walking or bicycling offers a pollution-free mode of transport. If you replace a car with a bike or by walking each time you go to work, you save approximately 3,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year. Riding a bike is a big responsibility; it is important to follow safety rules of the road and to wear a helmet. To learn more, go to Smart Cycling.

Red Wing Student Earth Week Art Display

Students in Red Wing were asked to design a poster advocating for a healthier planet. Posters will be displayed in downtown Red Wing during Earth Week, April 16-22.  The community is invited to walk around to view their work.

No Mow May on a backdrop of a yard with assorted flowers and pollinatorsNo Mow May – Small Steps with Big Benefits

The start of the growing season is a critical time for hungry, newly emerging native bees. Floral resources may be hard to find, especially in urban and suburban landscapes. By allowing lawns to grow longer, and not applying pesticides to flowering plants in your lawn, you can provide nectar and pollen to help your bee neighbors thrive. Post a sign in your yard to show your support for pollinators; go to Bee City USA.

Become a Citizen Scientist

Citizen science is scientific work undertaken by members of the general public. It is often done in collaboration with or under the direction of professional scientists and scientific institutions. To learn more, go to Citizen Science @ UMN.