Earth Day 2009 is going to be bigger, better and greener than ever before! Picture This: Thousands of central Ohioans working together with shovels in hand planting trees, cleaning the banks of our scenic rivers, removing non-native species from parks, establishing vegetable gardens in communities, and otherwise beautifying the city we call home.

This year the Columbus Earth Day event is going to be split into two days. Sat., April 18 will be for volunteer worksites and Sun., April 19 for the celebration, which will take place in Goodale Park from noon-7pm. The 2-day format was selected to increase participation at worksites by offering volunteers both morning and afternoon options. The goal is to get 3,000 volunteers this year. We will also be growing the Goodale Park celebration by including more features.

Volunteers can sign up for worksites, get updated information, and locate bus routes and bike paths to worksites at picturethis09.org. This is the third year that Green Columbus, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable living in Central Ohio and globally, has organized Earth Day.

The Sierra Club is planning a project for April 18. We need volunteers to help plan as well as volunteers for the day. If you have available time or creative ideas, please contact .