Earth Day 2011 will be celebrated worldwide Friday with the theme “a billion acts of green,” and Vicksburg is helping reach the goal.

From the new Environmental Laboratory on the campus of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineer Research and Development Center to the Warren County-Vicksburg Public Library, green building and retrofitting is saving energy and local dollars.

“It did take a lot of work,” said Dr. Beth Fleming, EL director, of the newly opened building on the ERDC campus. “We’ve been working on this for 10 years or more, but everyone is so excited to be in a building that’s so new and so clean.”

Earth Day was first observed April 22, 1970, to raise awareness about environmental protection and appreciation. It was founded in the United States but now is observed in 175 countries around the world, coordinated by the Earth Day Network, focusing largely on education, policies and activism in support of the environment.