This Earth Day, Beware of Fiery Debris Falling From the Sky and Other Stars in DFW

There’s gonna be two kinds of stars in DFW this weekend: the kind that walk the red carpet and the kind that light up the sky.

On Saturday night, April 21, into early morning Sunday, April 22, North Texans can check out the Lyrid meteor shower, which coincides with Earth Day this year, when as many as 20 meteors can be seen “falling” in the night sky every hour.

Just look for the burning shards of rock and natural debris slicing through the sky at tens of thousands miles per hour. The experts at Accuweather say this should be one of the best shooting star displays of late on Earth. Depending on clear skies here in the Metroplex, you can catch a glimpse of these stars streaking across all areas of the sky, with no telescope required. 

EarthX in Fair Park

Plenty of (human) stars will make an appearance at this weekend’s huge EarthX event in Fair Park, where astronaut Buzz Aldrin, retired NBA player Dennis Rodman, actors Amy Smart, Kevin Sorbo, Harry Hamlin and the entire cast of Real Housewives of Dallas will walk the “green carpet” Friday night at the EarthxGlobal Gala awards ceremony and fundraising auction at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  Grammy-nominated artist Colbie Caillat will perform. Tickets are still available.

EarthX happening April 20-22 at Fair Park, 1121 First Avenue in Dallas, is a multi-day film festival, conference and forum focused on conservation education and awareness. Register for free attendance or pay $5 admission at the door. This bi-partisan conference has morphed into one of the largest conservation conferences in the world, organizers say, with 100,000 attendees and 700 exhibitors last year.

The EarthxFilm festival’s opening night selection is the veganism documentary The Game Changers, directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by James Cameron, which explores the impact a plant-based diet has on elite athletes and overall health and wellness.

The Expo features a range of activities to enjoy such as interactive scavenger hunts, an Outdoor Adventure Zone including scuba diving and tree climbing, EarthX Solar, Tiny Homes showcase, a Green Auto Show and more. Today check out Goat Yoga by Deep Ellum Yoga. Because barnyard yoga seems to be a thing. Or Saturday, bring your Tesla to EarthX, sponsored by the Tesla Owners Club of North Texas. Because Teslas are rare around these parts, right?

EarthX, formerly Earthday Texas, is a 501 c-3 nonprofit organization focused on environmental education and awareness founded in 2011 by Dallas-based environmentalist & businessman Trammell S. Crow.

Don’t Mess with Us

Celebrate Earth Day by joining your neighbors to clean-up trash in your community, if you can figure out what group is what. There’s the Austin non-profit Keep Texas Beautiful, which is the state affiliate of Keep America Beautiful that organizes the Great American Clean-Up, not to be confused with the Texas Dept of Transportation’s popular Don’t Mess With Texas campaign that organizes a Trash-Off too. Whichever group you volunteer for, there’s fun incentives to do so in places like Frisco and Grand Prairie.

Grand Prairie affiliates of Keep Texas Beautiful are pitching in for litter duty at this weekend’s Grand Prairie Main Street Fest, a free event hosted by the city parks and recreation department. The festival is open to anyone and features live music and entertainment, food and carnival activities.

At the Community Clean Up in Frisco, you can register at 8 a.m. Sunday morning at IKEA, 7171 Ikea Drive in Frisco, to receive a t-shirt, clean-up supplies and a location assignment. Then Frisco is rewarding clean-up volunteers with a free Frisco Family Earth Day Celebration at 11 a.m. with food, face painting, bounce houses and games. The most unusual piece of trash collected will win a raffle drawing (maybe a meteorite from the Lyrid meteor shower or some other weirdo find you can keep for yourself.)

Ditch Your Bulky Stuff

Now, here’s an Earth Day solution for a scenario I guarantee you’ve faced at least once: You purchase a new television for your living room, but you don’t want to trash the box that shouts, “Hey burglars, I just got a brand new TV” in the alley. Meanwhile you’ve got a big tube television that needs to go away. With the Allen Great American Clean-Up, ditch the tv box and the tv, and start plotting your next 8k television purchase.

Next weekend, Allen residents can haul anything from trash, yard waste and bulky cardboard to televisions, computers, household goods, shoes, cell phones eyeglasses and more to Allen City Hall, 305 Century Parkway. Items will be reused or recycled if possible. Paper shredding services are also available. City employees are on hand to help unload items.

Toast to Earth Day

Probably the most fun way to usher in Earth Day is this boozy Sunday at Whiskey Cake in Plano. There’ll be DJ music, mimosa bar, craft beer sampling from Unlawful Assembly Brewing Co. and eco-friendly shopping at Whiskey Cake Plano, 3601 Dallas Parkway from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 22.  Whiskey Cake will have a booth to promote the Last Straw Movement, a bar and restaurant-led initiative to reduce plastic pollution.

BTW, check out Keep Texas Beautiful’s merch, including this good-looking Texas beach-life holiday ornament, or order a free Don’t Mess with Texas bumper sticker (limit one per Texas address).