The 11th annual Poultney Earth Fair will be held on Thursday, April 26 from 2pm–5pm at Poultney High School. Visit dozens of educational booths and celebrate the earth with the Poultney community. Additional activities include a scavenger hunt with prizes, tie-dye shirt making, face-painting, live music and wood-fired pizza. Limited spots are still available for students to participate in the speech contest for cash prizes.
The Poultney Earth Fair is a town wide celebration of community, education, and environmentalism. This year the town of Poultney is inviting local businesses, organizations, and everyday advocates for change to display their work, their philosophy, and to share any opportunities they have available.
This year’s Earth Fair theme is “Change & Celebration”. Together we will celebrate and honor the fruits of our labor and the progress we have made, for we have worked hard and we stand on the shoulders of giants. Then together, we will look towards the future, at all the possibilities that it holds. How can we be better to ourselves, our loved ones, our community, our earth? Environmentalism is a holistic philosophy of life, and every section of this event speaks to some aspect of this inward and outward balance.
For the first time in history, the Poultney Earth Fair will be hosting a Speech contest. The speech contest is open for grades 5-8, 9-12, and college students. There are Cash prizes starting at $200! Here are the prompts:
Starting at 2 PM: Grades 5-8
- What could be done at my school or in my community to make it greener?
- If the globe is warming, why is it snowing so hard in March?
- What is the difference between weather and climate?
- How is your town like an ecosystem and what makes it sustainable?
Starting at 3 PM: Grades 9-12
- How and why has the climate changed rapidly over the last 120 years, and what are possible solutions to slow down climate change?
- How can social media be used to raise environmental consciousness?
- Discuss how student energy can equal exponential mass sociopolitical change.
- How can all members of your community eat healthfully and sustainably too?
Starting at 4 PM: College
- What are the intersection points between environmentalism and other social justice movements?
- What are the best ways to get human beings to change their behaviors in regard to the environment without causing depression and paralysis?
- Are there technological advances that might help ameliorate the effects of climate change without causing other problems?
The speeches will be 3-5 minutes, notecards are allowed but not scripts. There are 10 competitors max per category. If you’re interested in participating or would like additional information please email amanda.mason@rswsu.org