A Virtual Celebration via Zoom was presented by Methow Valley Citizens Council and Methow Arts Alliance on April 17, 2020. Click on the button below to watch the recorded broadcast of the event:

WATCH HERE

EVENT MENU — minutes in ( ) indicate start time of each section

• (0:00) Opening live music with Luc Reynaud
• (13:55) Introduction with Jasmine Minbashian of Methow Valley Citizens Council and Amanda Jackson Mott of Methow Arts
• (21:40) Nature is Speaking, award-winning video by Conservation International
  
• (24:00) Thoughts from Mark Miller, Methow descendant and tribal elder
• (32:20) Video interview of Denis Hayes, national coordinator of first Earth Day in 1970, conducted by Liberty Bell High School students Masie Shaw and Rivers Lehman
• (50:00) ‘Visions for the future’ video recordings by Liberty Bell High School students (50:00)
• (54:35) Interview with Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, renowned youth climate activist and hip hop artist, conducted by local youth activist Ari Sprauer
• (1:13:15) ‘State of the Nation’ panel discussion with Michael Gerrard of Sabin Center for Climate Change at Columbia Law, Michael Furze of WA State Department of Commerce, and Amelia Marchand of the Colville Confederated Tribes
  
• (1:55:20) Inspiring live music by Luc Reynaud
• (2:05:00) Closing words from Jasmine Minbashian and Amanda Jackson Mott, with resources for taking action
• (2:07:35) Closing poetry reading by Claudia Castro Luna, WA state poet laureate

The Celebration included a dynamic array of artists, nationally renowned speakers and local students. With Luc Reynaud, Claudia Castro Luna – WA State Poet Laureate, Climate Activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez and many more.

Earth Day marks the beginning of the modern environmental movement on April 22nd, 1970, and this 50th anniversary presents a powerful moment to both celebrate and reflect on how we can take collective action for a more sustainable and beautiful future.

“During this unprecedented time, it’s more important than ever to keep the fabric of our community together and to examine and celebrate our life on this one sweet precious Earth,” says Jasmine Minbashian, Executive Director of MVCC.

CELEBRATION LINE UP INCLUDED:

Live music and video with local musician

LUC REYNAUD. Luc was born and raised in the beautiful Methow Valley in the state of Washington and has had many seeds of music planted in him through his loved ones. He eventually started his own band, Luc & the Lovingtons, and has toured the world over. Luc’s journey has been inspiring, full of beautiful miracles, heartfelt service, dedication to the planet, and bringing light to the darkness. Luc is a shining example of how to follow our heart, dissolve our ego, and become an instrument of something much greater than ourselves.

Interview with DENIS HAYES, National Coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970, conducted by LBHS students.

Denis was the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970 and took the event international in 1990. It is now the most-wide-observed secular holiday in the world. As board chair of the international Earth Day Network, Denis is gearing up for the 50th Earth Day anniversary in 2020. Over the years, Hayes has been special assistant to the Governor of Illinois for natural resources and the environment; senior fellow at the Worldwatch Institute; adjunct professor of engineering and human biology at Stanford University; Regents’ Professor at the University of California; and a Silicon Valley lawyer at the Cooley firm.

Inspiring video clips of

METHOW VALLEY STUDENTS sharing their vision for the future

Live interview with renowned climate activist and hip-hop artist XIUHTEZCATL MARTINEZ

(his first name pronounced ‘Shoe-Tez-Caht’.) This interview will be conducted by a local youth climate activist.

Xiuhtezcatl is an indigenous climate activist, hip-hop artist, and powerful voice on the front lines of a global youth-led environmental movement.

At the early age of six Xiuhtezcatl began speaking around the world, from the Rio+20 United Nations Summit in Rio de Janeiro, to addressing the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York city.

“My music is both a tool for resistance, and a medium to tell my story. My dad taught me that all life is sacred. When I was a little boy, we would always talk about our responsibility to protect our land, our culture, our earth as indigenous people. These teachings are the foundation of the music I write and the things I fight for.” — Xiuhtezcatl

State of the Nation expert panel discussion with guests: MICHAEL GERRARD of Sabin Center for Climate Change at Columbia Law addressing the environmental rollbacks of the Trump Administration; MICHAEL FURZE of WA State Department of Commerce addressing WA’s 2021 energy plan; AMELIA MARCHAND of Colville Confederated Tribes and JASMINE MINBASHIAN addressing local climate action plans

Poetry reading by CLAUDIA CASTRO LUNA, WA State Poet Laureate. Claudia is Washington State’s first immigrant and non-native English speaker to hold the position of

is Washington State Poet Laureate. When she was 14, her family fled the civil war in El Salvador. She served as Seattle’s Civic Poet, from 2015-2017 and is the author of the Pushcart nominated and Killing Marías (Two Sylvias Press) also shortlisted for WA State 2018 Book Award in poetry and This City, (Floating Bridge Press). She is also the creator of the acclaimed Seattle Poetic Grid. Castro Luna is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, the recipient of individual artist grants from King County 4Culture and Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture, a Hedgebrook and VONA alumna, and a 2014 Jack Straw fellow. She has an MA in Urban Planning, a teaching certificate and an MFA in poetry. Living in English and Spanish, she writes and teaches in Seattle where she gardens and keeps chickens with her husband and their three children.

“Through music, poetry, history and action, we can all play a powerful role in impacting our future for generations to come. We invite our community to join us through a Methow Valley-style celebration of 50 years of Earth Day. The Earth is what we all have in common,” says Amanda Jackson Mott, Executive Director of Methow Arts.

Presented by Methow Valley Citizens Council and Methow Arts.