Spend Earth Day -- Monday, April 22 -- among friends with this Audience Award festival winner showing at 7pm at the Lynwood Theater. A panel of local experts (farming, health, climate) will be on hand afterwards for a Q&A.

Common Ground is a sequel to Kiss the Ground. The film uncovers the dark web of money, power and politics behind our broken food system. It also proposes some uplifting solutions based on regenerative farming practices, along with a healthy dose of lobbying our government to move away from the traditional farm bill subsidies and toward incentivizing local farming to support a healthier approach for us and the environment. 

Purchase tickets at the cinema or here in advance.

In the last issue, I highlighted where plant pots could go.

One place, Persephone Farm, really needs those 4" (not 5"!) square pots pictured above. But farmer Rebecca no longer needs bags of any kind. However, she will take CLEAN, quart-sized yogurt containers (without lids) and long plastic twist ties (for wrapping flower bunches).

• Have any of the above supplies been gathering dust at home?
• Would you like to give students the opportunity to be expressive and inventive in their STEM class?
• Want to save the teacher a little bit of money?

Then drop off your collections from the list above at the Blakely Elementary School office, 4704 Blakely Av, marked for the STEM classroom. Thank you! Questions? Email STEM teacher Marcus Kitley.

From now until April 30, Bay Hay and Feed is collecting clean, worn-out socks of any brand, color, size and material. Bring single socks -- not rolled or paired or bagged or banded or clipped -- just single socks and look for the collection box.

Smartwool is sponsoring this initiative. They prefer merino wool socks because those are actually turned back into new wool socks (watch video here ). Other kinds will be repurposed as insulation.

KidVantage in Bremerton works with local agencies to bring essentials to local children living in poverty or crisis.

Amongst many items (see the full list here), they accept car seats if they are clean and have at least one full calendar year left before expiration (found in owner’s manual). KidVantage staff will confirm usability/expiration upon donation.

If you have a car seat not suitable for reuse, Target is holding its annual take-back now until April 27. A 20% off coupon for baby gear is offered upon trade-in. More details are here.

Materials from old car seats will be recycled to create new products like pallets, plastic buckets and construction materials like steel beams and carpet padding. 

The Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce is collecting new and gently used luggage for foster children in Western Washington through Saturday, April 27. They ask that all luggage be free of holes, tears, stains, and all zippers functioning.

Drop off the luggage at the Poulsbo Chamber Office, 19168 Jensen Way, Suite 130 or at Viking Sewing Gallery, located inside JoAnn Fabric's, 2886 NW Bucklin Hill Rd, Silverdale.

Check it out -- new events are still being added to the Earth Month calendar on the Sustainable Bainbridge EM page.

Plus, come visit the combined booths of Sustainable Bainbridge's Weed Warriors, Zero Waste and GreenWays at the Park District's annual Earth Expo on Saturday, April 27, 10am-2pm, at Battle Point Park.

Gather your and your friends' Styrofoam for Kitsap Solid Waste's Styro recycling collection - the only one this year!

Bring only the snappable kind; no bendy foam. Make sure it's all clean and dry. Remove all tape and stickers.

Email Zero Waste if you would like to borrow a grabber.

Get free bags for collecting and disposing of litter from the Bainbridge Disposal office entrance at Coppertop.

There's still time and availability to sign up for the City of Bainbridge Island's 12-week pilot on food scrap composting for BI residents, which will begin around July 2024.

Participating households will receive a complimentary kitchen pail, as well as educational materials on composting organic materials on Bainbridge Island and be asked to participate in a short survey at the end of the pilot.

If your household is interested in joining, please complete this form, and a City staff member will contact you regarding your participation in the coming months. 

Whenever you are looking for a destination for something not accepted in your curbside bin, be sure to visit the

 Guide to Reusing and/or Recycing Locally on our website.