City's Earth Day Festival has moved to June

Earth Day in Greater Sudbury will be a little different this year.

Usually Earth Day — which is April 22 this year — is marked locally with the Earth Day Festival, but the 2016 festival has been moved to June 4.

That's partly because organizers wanted to move it outside to Memorial Park — it's previously been held indoors, as it would be difficult to have an outdoor festival in April, when there's sometimes still snow.

It's also because reThink Green, which heads up the festival's planning, also has another big event planned for Earth Day.

A launch party for the agency's new program, Green Economy North, is being held at SRO Lounge on Durham Street starting at 5 p.m. April 22. The event will include food, music and speeches by those involved in the program.

All too often, being fiscally responsible and economically sustainable have been portrayed as being diametrically opposed, said reThink Green executive director Rebecca Danard.

Green Economy North aims to change that by helping businesses become more competitive through making environmentally-friendly choices.

“What we're really trying to change with this program is showing how being sustainable can be a competitive advantage, and how it can really help you grow your business,” said Danard.

“Especially in this current economic and environment we're in, with carbon pricing and greenhouse gas and climate change, being prepared and being sustainable for the environmental changes that are coming are a huge advantage to a business, moving forward, rather than someone who's unprepared for the upcoming changes that are happening to our world.”

If the launch party isn't your cup of tea, and you don't want to wait for the Earth Day Festival, there's another group in town celebrating Earth Day this month.

The local modern dance troupe Earthdancers has several stagings of its annual Earth Day show this month.

Earthdancers, celebrating its 25th season this year, aims to raise funds for environmental causes through its performances.

This year, funds are being donated to the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee, the Vegetation Enhancement Technical Advisory Committee and Friends of the Earth Canada.

Julia Brousseau, the troupe's co-production team co-ordinator, said the troupe has been working on some special presentations, including a new dance choreographed by Thorneloe University theatre professor Jenny Hazelton.

“It's centralized around this couch,” she said. “There's seven of us in the dance. We jump onto the couch, jump off, throw each other around. It's pretty fun.”

All of the troupe's two-dozen-odd members will also take part in a 20-minute-long dance with an environmental theme called Dream of the Dolphin, first performed by Earthdancers in 1997.

“I think it's a really great way to celebrate Earth Day,” Brousseau said. “You get to watch dance, and support the environment with your ticket.”

Catch the show at Le Théâtre Du Nouvel-Ontario on the Collège Boréal campus April 15 at 7:30 p.m., April 16 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., April 22 at 7:30 p.m. and April 23 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Tickets, which cost $15 for students and seniors and $20 for adults, are available through TNO's box office. Visit letno.ca.