How often do you just stop and think about the world around you — the land, the water, the plants, the trees, the animals, the people that make up planet Earth?

Welcome to Temple Ambler EarthFest: Celebrating the Earth! 2023 marks the 20th year that Temple Ambler has been offering EarthFest programming! This year, EarthFest, the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, the Temple Ambler Field Station, the College of Science and Technology and our content contributors from over the years are Celebrating the Earth from now through May!

It is April 22, Earth Day! Each year more than a billion people mark Earth Day as a day of action to change human behavior and create global, national and local policy changes. The Earth faces enormous environmental challenges due to climate change, human action…and human inaction. You can be part of the change!

We invite you to use the resources, information and activities we are sharing during Celebrating the Earth to think about what the world means to you and what you can do in your daily lives to become citizen scientists and promote sustainability!

Earth Day isn’t just a day, it’s an idea. Everyone at every age has the power to effect change. You can leave the world a better place than you found it!

Welcome to Celebrating the Earth!

Taking Action for the Earth

Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Earth Day 1970 gave a voice to an emerging public consciousness about the state of our planet. Today, Earth Day is widely recognized as the largest secular observance in the world. Temple University Ambler held its first outdoor, educational program celebrating Earth Day on April 22, 2003, exactly 20 years ago from Earth Day 2023 and has been hosting programming designed to help students, teachers and families become essential stewards of the Earth as they practice citizen science in the classroom and at home! Learn more about Taking Action for the Earth.

Make Every Day Earth Day

Did you know that 79 percent of all plastics ever produced have accumulated in the natural environment or landfills? Two billion people live without any waste collection services at all. Sustainability is a global concern and it will take everyone doing their part to effect positive change. That change has to start right at home and in your communities! Learn more about Making Every Day Earth Day.

Change Agents - Working for the Planet

Every day there are millions of people across the globe working to make the world cleaner, safer, healthier for today and tomorrow. For horticulturists to environmental scientists, marine biologists to law enforcement park rangers, there are countless careers focused on environmental research, the green industry, sustainability, education, advocacy and STEM — careers that are working diligently to create a better tomorrow around the globe! We invite you to learn about just a few of those careers. Learn more about Change Agents.

Animal Tales - How Do You Run a Zoo? 

When you think about a zoo, what kinds of careers come to mind? Zookeeper? Veterinarian? Concession vendor? How about Guest Services? Or Educator? Or Marketing? It takes an army of individuals in a diversity of careers to keep a zoo running successfully. Every one of those positions are essential to the zoo's mission of caring for their animals, promoting conservation and building indelible connections between the zoo's residents and visitors. Join us on a visit to EarthFest event partner the Elmwood Park Zoo to learn about careers at the zoo!  

Conservation in Education

Educators from kindergarten through college understand the importance of environmental and STEM education. At Temple, the University offers numerous programs that directly address environmental concerns while Temple faculty are engaged in research all over the world designed to expand our knowledge of sustainability, conservation, climate change, ecological restoration and a general knowledge of the world around us and our place in it. At schools throughout the region the environment is at the forefront of the conversation as students and teachers conduct their own research in to ways to protect the planet. Learn more about Conservation in Education.

Citizen Science - Activities

Now it's your turn! It's time to get hands-on with sustainability through important regional and global initiatives and fun activities that you can do online and at home. Join the City Nature Challenge. Join the Great Global Cleanup. Learn about earth science and conservation with the College of Science and Technology's FunScience Demos! Participate in projects throughout Pennsylvania and beyond with SciStarter during Citizen Science Month! Learn about Citizen Science Activites here!

The Living Earth

Often, the best way to learn about something is to experience it. The best way to learn about the Earth is to get outside and explore the land, sea and air around you! Discover plants, trees and animals and learn how to identify them. It's time to learn about who we share the planet with and how we can protect them. Learn more about the Living Earth.

Arbor Day

Arbor Day is a time to encourage people to plant and protect trees. Many communities traditionally take the opportunity to organize tree-planting and litter-collecting events on or around the holiday. The first modern Arbor Day dates all the way back to 1805. The first Arbor Day in the United States was held in 1872 when an estimated one million trees were planted in Nebraska. Trees provide the very necessities of life itself. They clean our air, protect our drinking water, create healthy communities, and feed the human soul. But these life necessities are threatened around the globe. Learn more about Arbor Day!

Learn More About Trees and Plants

We live on a green, lush world. It's up to us to keep it that way! We invite you to learn more about the trees and plants that share the planet with us from the Ambler Arboretum, the Franklin Institute, Bartlett Tree Experts and some of our other event contributors. Learn More About Trees and Plants.

Learn From Our Event Partners

We are only scratching the surface of what our event partners and content contributors have to share! From the iEcoLab to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, from the Ambler Arboretum to the Academy of Natural Sciences, there is a treasure trove of information about science, nature and the world around you! What will you discover? Learn More About Our Event Partners.

More to Explore

Let the Celebrating the Earth online celebration be just the beginning of your journeys to discovery. Our event contributors provide a wonderful resource for information and educational activities. There are also numerous other online resources to help you engage in and explore the world around you. Now get out there and get exploring!

Our Event Contributors

We couldn’t do this without the help of a lot of friends. We’d like to thank our event partners and content contributors, the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University; the Temple Ambler Field Station; the College of Science and Technology; TUTeach; FunScienceDemos; Temple’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science; Temple's College of Engineering; the Temple Biology Department, including iEcoLab and the Cordes Laboratory; the Temple University Office of Sustainability; the Landscape Architecture and Horticulture programs in the Tyler School of Art and Architecture; the Ambler Campus Office of Student Life; the Ambler Campus Library; the Elmwood Park Zoo; the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion; the Delaware River Basin Commission; FEMA Region III; EPA Region III; Upper Dublin Township, Air Quality Partnership - Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences and Bartlett Tree Experts. Explore More!