St. Louis Green Dining Week and other Earth Day festivities kick off this weekend

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By Adam Siddle // April 14, 2021

For the second year, the coronavirus pandemic has caused earthday365’s St. Louis Earth Day Festival to be canceled. Instead, there will be a series of socially distanced Earth Day celebrations and events including Green Dining Week, an online Resilience Speaker Series, free Earth Day celebration kits, and volunteer opportunities like community cleanups.

Green Dining Week will be held from April 16 to 25, when 15 Green Dining Alliance (GDA) restaurants will donate 20% of proceeds from select menu items to earthday365 and its programs like the GDA. To become part of the GDA, restaurants must demonstrate sustainability efforts like recycling and cutting out Styrofoam.

Participating restaurants include Clementine's Naughty & Nice Creamery with a portion of sales from pints of the vegan vanilla bean ice cream being donated. Avenue in Clayton is offering a variety of included options, including a veggie quiche, various soups, avocado toast with mixed greens, grilled cheese, and Parmesan risotto with spinach and marinara. The Dam, 1111 Mississippi, PW Pizza, Vin de Set and more are also involved. For a list of participating restaurants, visit GDA’s website.

vegan vanilla bean pints from clementine's creamery // photo courtesy clementine's creamery

Other festivities include the online Resilience Speaker Series, which includes keynote speakers, film screenings and panels on food justice. At 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, there’s a discussion about The Invisible Hand in partnership with the Missouri Historical Society’s Global Freshwater Summit. At 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 22, there’s a panel on Watershed Resiliency through Food Waste Reduction and Food Justice. And at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 23, the series concludes with a keynote address from architect Mary Ann Lazarus.

Community cleanups will be held in O’Fallon Park on April 18 and Dutchtown on April 24. For more information on how to get involved, visit earthday365’s website.

Free Earth Day celebration kits are available and include an assortment of gifts and activities including scavenger hunts, a metal travel straw, LED bulbs, seed packets, and more. Kits also include ways to engage in community science in the St. Louis Area and at home. To receive your free bag, sign up here.