Get your pen, paper and cameras ready for the Earth Day poetry and photo contests.
Both contests will be open to entries starting March 1.
The theme of Earth Day and the contests this year is energy.
“Renewable energy is everybody’s first thought about it,” said Leanne Koehn, community engagement with the Ridge Meadows Recycling Society.
But it also includes alternative energy sources instead of gas and coal and also looks at renewables rather than non-renewables, like wind and solar and hydro.
“We’re also talking about human energy,” she said.
This year for Earth Day there will be human recharging stations.
“The idea of what recharges humans, if that’s spending time alone, spending time with an animal, exercising,” said Koehn.
There is also creative energy and synergy, “the energy that happens between two people when you get together with the right person,” explained Koehn, adding that there are many different types of energy ,including the molecular level, where every object is energy.
The poetry contest will be judged in two different categories. There will be a youth category for ages 5 to 12, and a teen category, for ages 13 to 18.
Photographs will be put up an Earth Day Facebook page (facebook.com/mapleridgeearthday) and the public will be invited to vote for their favourites.
Awards will be given to the six winners with the most votes – three for youth 17 and younger and three for adults over 18.
For the first time, students will be encouraged to enter through their schools. Student entries should note names and what school they attend. The school with the highest number of entries in both contests will win a movie screening of the 2012 Dr. Seuss film The Lorax.
• All entries should be emailed to earthdaycontests@gmail.com.
Photographs should be sent in jpeg format and must be one megabyte or larger.
Earth Day, sponsored by the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News, takes place April 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Memorial Peace Park downtown Maple Ridge.