SI Museum Celebrates Earth Day With Online How-To Festival

Have you ever wanted to be a butterfly whisperer? How about a beekeeper? Or make flower pots dance? Now you can learn 'how-to' online with the Staten Island Museum at their virtual version of the Earth Day: How-To Festival on Saturday, April 25, starting at 12pm on their YouTube channel at YouTube.com/SIMuseum (on the Earth Day Playlist). The videos will be released at 12pm and remain accessible throughout the spring.

Join the fun as the Museum celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day and our community's know-how with fun virtual workshops and presentations for all ages. Local experts, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and professionals share their particular passions, ranging from activities that require highly specialized skills to those anyone can do. This Earth Day, learn something new and help protect the only world we have!

"We're taking our annual Earth Day How-To Festival online this year to still come together - even though we must be physically apart- to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and celebrate our incredible community's expertise. The How-To Festival gives people the opportunity to learn over 20 new skills and access a bevy of knowledge about the environment, right from their own homes," remarks Janice Monger, Staten Island Museum President and CEO.

How-To Festival Lineup, April 25

· Cooper Keane (Amateur Lepidopterist)

o How to raise butterflies in your own home

· Lenny Librizzi (Beekeeper and Community Gardener)

o How to care for honeybees

o How to build a bicycle waterpump

o How to harvest rainwater on a large scale

· Wambui Ippolito (Horticulturist)

o How to infuse cooking oils with herbs and seeds

· Tattfoo Tan (Artist)

o How to make ink with black walnuts

· Yemi Amu (Founder and Farm Manager, Oko Farms Aquaponics)

o How to create an aquaponics system using a recycled 5 gallon water bottle

· David Mizejewski (Naturalist, National Wildlife Federation)

o How to garden and de-stress in these times

· Greenbelt Environmental Education Department

o How to make hummingbird nectar

o How to use binoculars

· Tony Rose (Director, Natural Resources Protective Association)

o How to build double-dug, or French garden beds

o How to construct rain barrels for home use

o How to create dancing flowerpots

o How to make an instant greenhouse

· Colleen Evans (Director of Natural Science Interpretation and Collections, Staten Island Museum)

o How to make your own dip net to study aquatic insects

· Cliff Hagan (President, Protectors of Pine Oak Woods)

o How to identify different types of gulls on Staten Island

o How to decipher a bird call

· Rachel Aronson (Education programming coordinator, Freshkills Park Alliance)

o How to make a seed fly

· Ciara Scully (Regional Environmental Educator at New York State Parks)

o How to do simple things in your home that help the earth

· Emily Becker (Environmental Educator, Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve Nature Interpretive Center)

o How to plant a seed

· Annabel Posimato (NYC Regional Environmental Educators, New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation)

o How to keep a worm compost bin

· Sarah Maldonado (Environmental Educator, Shirley Chisholm State Park)

o How to engage young learners in nature using your immediate indoor and outdoor spaces and minimal supplies

· Anthony Reuter (Senior Outreach Coordinator at NYC Parks GreenThumb)

o How to plan your garden: What you should plant based on soil and light conditions, existing space limitations, and how to adapt as those conditions change

· Andy Blancero (Home Fermenter)

o How to make sauerkraut

· Beryl Thurman (President, North Shore Waterfront Conservancy)

o How to see the North Shore Waterfront with new eyes

· Laura Casaregola (School Gardens Coordinator, GrowNYC)

o How to build a tiny indoor greenhouse

Earth Day is an annual event celebrating the environment and raising awareness about the threats against it. Earth Day started as a grassroots movement in 1970 based on the idea of "teach-ins." More than 20 million people and thousands of local schools and communities participated in the first Earth Day. This early success helped to influence the United States' government to create stronger laws to protect the environment and create the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Earth Day is still as relevant today as when it started 50 years ago and serves as a reminder of what humanity can collectively accomplish. As a Museum founded by naturalists more than 100 years ago, the Staten Island Museum is committed to helping people understand the importance of biodiversity and how we can lessen human impact on the environment.

Earth Day: How-To Festival is on Saturday, April 25. The featured videos can be found on the Museum's YouTube channel at YouTube.com/SIMuseum (on the Earth Day Playlist) as well as their website StatenIslandMuseum.org, and Facebook page (Facebook.com/StatenIslandMuseum). All instructional videos can be accessed beginning on April 25 and will remain up for the public to view throughout the spring.