Vicksburg and the world are going green this week for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, celebrated on April 22.

At Sherman Avenue Elementary, students are learning about recycling and saving energy, Earth Day chairman Leslie Lum said. On Thursday, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students will plant flowers in three beds. First- through third-grade children will plant bushes, pull weeds and distribute mulch.

“This is an all-day event,” said Lum, adding 625 students will be participating. “It’s the whole school. Students from Warren Central High are coming out to help us that day.”

At Bowmar Avenue Elementary, Principal Tammy Burris said, first-graders will plant a tree.

“They plant a tree every year,” she said.

Also, second-graders have made Earth Day critters from recycled trash, and third-graders were to put on a program by the school’s music teacher. An Earth Day poster will be placed in the school’s library, and projects will be done in classrooms. A total of 413 youngsters are expected to participate.

“I think it’s great,” Burris said. “The teachers are good with writing it in their lesson plans. The students seem to enjoy it.”

South of Vicksburg, at Alcorn State University, Dr. Alex Acholonu has been busy organizing the school’s 10th annual Earth Day celebration.

The event will include an essay contest, in which Vicksburg Intermediate and Warren Central Junior High students will compete; a recycling contest; and a cleanest dorm contest.

Students also will listen to city officials and experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, invited by Acholonu, faculty adviser for ASU’s Strategies for Ecology Education Development and Sustainability.

On the roster are Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield, Port Gibson Mayor Fred Reeves, Hazlehurst Mayor Henry Banks  and Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton.

“The symposium is going to touch on what role we play in local government to address pollution,” said Winfield. “We want our city to be more environmentally friendly.”

At South Park Elementary, about 20 Corps volunteers did work at the school’s Classroom in the Forest.

“Every day is Earth Day,” said Mike McNair, chief of the Corps’ Regulatory Branch.

It marks the third year the group has done an Earth Day project.

Earth Day was initiated in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. senator from Wisconsin. Approximately 20 million Americans participated in the first celebration.

Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com