Most people care about protecting the environment and ensuring the health of our planet for our children. But with the many competing demands on our time and money, it’s hard to know what an individual can do that will really make a difference. On Earth Day, April 22, there will be a fun way to learn, and also see what some of the Poultney students have done to help teach us all.

Poultney High School is hosting the first Poultney Earth Fair: Affordable Green from 4-7:30 pm on Tuesday, April 22 in the high school gym. The fair is free of charge and will offer many give-aways, dozens of handouts, and coupons for trees and Farmers Markets. There will be delicious local food, inexpensive items for sale, and even a robot! At 6:30 PM, the Association of Vermont Recyclers will present an interactive play about recycling called “Think Before You Throw.”

The fair is co-sponsored by the Town of Poultney, Green Mountain College and the Poultney-Mettowee Conservation District, with the help of Poultney Elementary, Poultney High School and many local residents. It will cover energy conservation, recycling, food and nutrition, gardening and composting, electronics, cleaning products, and more…all presented with the theme that going green can be affordable and, often, cheaper.

“Trying to be environmentally conscious can be daunting”, says Ina Smith, coordinator of the event. “Most people can’t afford to restructure homes for solar panels, but all of us would like to save on our fuel bills. Time is as limited as money; we want to help, but don’t have hours to research how best to compost food wastes or figure out which products to buy that are less toxic to us. We think this event will be a fun way for our community to get some one-stop information about things like this.”

Poultney High school students are sewing inexpensive cloth shopping bags, displaying information of how much our electronic devices cost to operate, and demonstrating the savings of recycling plastic and glass bottles. Poultney 6th graders will be showing their composting project, and Green Mountain College students will have two displays about household cleaning products and another on saving water while saving money. Among many other Poultney businesses participating, Shaws and Williams Hardware will show their “green” products, the Poultney Public Library will display books on environmental topics, and the Red Brick Grill will offer a special mouth-watering treat.

You’ll learn how to weatherize your home to save fuel, the importance of buying local produce and products to decrease the costs of transportation, what you can recycle, and how composting can decrease the waste in landfills and help your garden grow better this summer. You’ll see how planting a native tree in your backyard is easy and inexpensive to do, and can eventually help with global warming and save you money by providing shade for your home.