Daily Breeze - Green Around the Edges

Mike Carroll

For Earth Day, South Bay is getting its eco in check

Earth Day falls on Wednesday this year, but the South Bay and Harbor Area will get an early start with a variety of eco-conscious events and programs over the next several days.

Others are planned for the following weekend. Here are some of the activities beginning Saturday and continuing through April 25.

Carson

California State University, Dominguez Hills, will hold its second annual Earth Day celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday in the Sculpture Garden.

The day's events will include information booths, exhibits and demonstrations, as well as talks by professors and a performance by dancers with the Gardena-based Okinawa Association of America. The day will begin with a blessing by Tongva spiritual leader Jimi Castillo at 10 a.m.

Among the exhibits will be a mobile interactive tide pool truck from the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific, an exhibit on solarium fuel cells designed to power robotics, displays of hybrid and electric vehicles, bonsai demonstrations and native plant displays.

Other highlights include informational booths featuring local environmental groups, as well as sustainability initiatives at the campus. Community exhibitors include Friends of the

Additionally, the university's "Nature and Culture in the Los Angeles Basin" series will conclude with anthropology professor Ana Pitchon speaking on "The Risks and Realities of Pier Fishing in L.A. County." Her talk will take place at noon on the main stage.

Earth Day events at CSUDH continue until Thursday , with the screening of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "The Garden," which is about a 14-acre community garden that rose from the ashes of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Director/writer Scott Hamilton Kennedy will introduce and talk about the making of the film. The screening is at 3p.m. in the Claudia Hampton Hall in Welch Hall.

CSUDH is at 1000 E. Victoria St.. Call 310-243-2438 for more.

Madrona Marsh Preserve will host a celebration starting at 9 a.m. April 25 where the public can feel the soil while planting native shrubs or trees and later see the water-wise and native plant garden adjacent to the nature center. Bring gloves and wear work clothes. The preserve is at 3201 Plaza del Amo, Torrance. Call 310-782-3989.