Join the Cumberland Forest and friends from across the Valley for the Cumberland Earth Week Festival, April 19-25th. The global theme for Earth Day 2021 is “Restore the Earth”. Whether you live in the Village, the wider Comox Valley, the Salish Sea region or across the globe – you are invited to connect for this celebration of biodiversity, restoration, regeneration, climate resilience and community action.

The Cumberland Forest has organized a diverse program of afternoon and evening events ranging from webinars, after school programs, trivia, theatre, and an online auction, to scavenger hunts and guided walks and talks (as public health orders allow). The program is filled with opportunities to learn, explore, connect, celebrate, and make change. All the details and registration links can be found at www.cumberlandforest.com/earthweek/

Monday evening join the Comox Valley Land Trust for an engaging webinar on Nature Based Climate Solutions. Tuesday afternoon features two awesome after school sessions celebrating flowers, pollinators, and waste free lunches. Tuesday evening join First Credit Union and the Cumberland Business Associations for a webinar exploring a vision of a thriving Circular Economy in Cumberland and across Vancouver Island. Wednesday evening features a Beginners Guide to Green Burial hosted by local green burial advocate Madeline Christie, with special guest speakers Catherine Valentine of Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery, and Sita Then of Evergreen Coffin Company.

Thursday, April 22 is a double header for Earth Day! Join the Comox Youth Climate Council at 4:30 for Our Future – Youth Storytelling for Climate Action. Members of the Comox Youth Climate Council share personal stories on topics such as eco-anxiety, health, nature-based solutions, political engagement, food security, and many more. A panel of guest local elected officials is invited to react and respond to the youth stories.

Then at 7pm sign on for the 10×10 Resilience Round-Up. Join 10 community guests for 10 visually centered presentations, each 10 minutes long! The 10 x 10 “Resilience Round-Up” is a #climatehope initiative of the Cumberland Community Forest Society and Resilience Comox Valley to celebrate projects and initiatives that are underway right here in the Comox Valley and helping to build connections, inspiration, and action toward community climate resilience.

Friday April 23rd is all about Cumberland Forest Spring Trivia! and bringing our community together for a much-needed spirit raising evening filled to the brim with mind melting, brain busting facts, fancy, and fun! The CCFS is joining forces with Lucky Village Enterprises to bring the party right to your living room. Registration is now open and 100% of revenues support the land protection, biodiversity, and restorations projects of the Cumberland Community Forest Society

On Saturday evening you can take in some wonderful music from Weird Church Cumberland for Weird Café: Cumberland Community Forest Society Fundraiser or join Comox Valley Arts for a virtual staged reading of Water Play by Tim Sutherland. This play is a “multi-layered exploration of human-to-water related entanglement; from the physical to the alchemical/chemical to the socio-geo-political. We are mostly water; water connects us to our world and to each other. In a not-too-distant future where water has become THE commodity, a woman, her parents, and a doctor converge as the result of a freak storm, bringing them face-to-face with what lies beneath the surface…”

Sunday evening the week wraps up with Connected by Water – the Earth Week Edition. This project of the Comox Valley Regional District is all about building knowledge, connections, and action toward climate resilience and watershed protection in the Comox Valley. Learn about projects and initiatives that are helping to support a healthy resilient watershed and how each of us has a role to play in the health and sustainability of drinking water resources.

Cumberland’s Earth Week Festival is all about bringing people together during these strange times to remind ourselves of our incredible capacity to make change, build community and celebrate the Earth. Check out the detailed schedule, sponsor, and presenter info and more at www.cumberlandforest.com/earthweek/.