Vandenberg celebrates 14th Annual Earth Day

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CALIF. -- The 30th Civil Engineer Squadron Asset Management Flight hosted the Vandenberg 14th Annual Earth Day celebration outside the base library April 23.

More than 400 base personnel came out to the event which featured free e-waste disposal, plant exchanges, exhibits, demonstrations, educational material, and games.

Kim Turner, Tetra Tech public education and outreach coordinator, has helped coordinate the Earth Day events for the past 14 years.

"The purpose of this event is to show the community and those that live and work here on base, that we can't do the mission without being very mindful of the water and air quality issues," said Turner. "All of these assets are part of the mission here at Vandenberg and we want to make sure that we are doing it in an earth friendly way."

Vandenberg's annual Earth Day celebration has come a long way since its first year. It progressed from handing out brochures to expanding every year with more base and local vendors contributing in educating the populace on how to stay green.

Twenty-four base and local vendors came out to educate and provide awareness; all with the same vision of promoting a cleaner and healthier environment to live and work in. The Wave Energy Project representatives from Cal Poly were among the newer vendors to participate this year.

"Today we are here to explain what wave energy is and how it will benefit the base," said Bill Toman, consultant to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Wave Energy Project study. "We plan on generating electric power five miles off shore with the power of the waves to supply the base electricity needs. I see the base using this new technology within the next five to six years."

By following the year's theme of Conserve Today to Secure Tomorrow, the 14th Earth Day celebration showed how the base organizations continuously demonstrate sustainable and environmentally friendly practices on a daily basis.