How do you celebrate the 50th Earth Day at home in the Inland area?

Fifty years ago, millions of protesters hit the streets to take a stand with a common goal: to protect the Earth.

It was the start to the modern environmental movement, and for five decades each year on April 22, countless people have spent this quasi-holiday celebrating nature by doing cleanups at parks and beaches, and by learning or teaching about nature and all its wonder with events big and small throughout the world.

But how do you celebrate Earth Day’s big 50th anniversary when access to the planet’s vast outdoors is limited, with most Southern California beaches shut down and parks shuttered by stay-at-home orders during the novel coronavirus pandemic?

Earth Day started in 1970 as a response to oil spills, smog and environmental concerns at the time, prompting a gathering of 20 million people in the United States to take to the streets, college campuses and countless cities in protest, according to the Earth Day Network, which partners with 75,000 organizations in 190 countries to coordinate Earth Day efforts.

Climate change is this year’s focus for the Earth Day Network, calling it “the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.”

While there have been environmental benefits of the stay-at-home orders, such as better air quality and increased wildlife movement, the beauty is tempered by the social and economic devastation of COVID-19, said Mandy Parkes, manager of the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District. The agency covers portions of Riverside and San Bernardino counties from Banning and Yucaipa to Ontario and Eastvale.

“With many of our wildland areas closed to the public and quarantine orders keeping us at home with the exception of essential tasks, benefiting from nature – particularly cleaner, more functional version of what we are used to – can still be done from a distance,” she said in an email.

The Coalition For Clean Air wants people to remember these blue skies.

“We are keeping the message very simple,” said Brian Sheridan, spokesperson for the long-time advocacy group based in Los Angeles.

“Go outside (on Earth Day) and take a big breath. Know that we can do this under nonquarantine COVID-19 restrictions if we can adopt clean air strategies,” Sheridan said.

Plenty of ideas are being offered for getting kids thinking about the Earth while at home. Get their hands dirty while sprucing up a garden or find items around the house to reuse or recycle. Do a scavenger hunt for critters and creatures in the backyard, or even seek out some still-accessible open spaces, parks or wetlands to take a nature hike or to simply smell the flowers.

Think long term by making a bucket list about natural wonders to explore when restrictions are lifted or discuss how wildlife is returning to precious areas such as Yosemite National Park given the human presence has been shut off in recent weeks.

Environmental organizations across Southern California are getting creative, finding ways for school children and people under stay-at-home orders to celebrate and think about the Earth, even if the great outdoors is off-limits in many areas.

“Fifty years later, we’ve made significant gains in public education and action, but there is still so much work that remains,” Parkes wrote. “Annually celebrating all that Earth provides helps to maintain focus on action necessary to protect and enhance the precious resources we have left for all who depend on them.”

Her group is publishing a daily guide to conservation action on its Facebook page, facebook.com/InlandEmpireRCD.

The district suggests walking in your backyard or neighborhood and tagging them in photos, videos and stories with the hashtag #earthdaywithrcds. Other suggestions run from taking a virtual tour of a national park to gardening.

Students in kindergarten through 12th grade can also participate in the National Association of Resource Conservation Districts’ pollinator poster contest, the group suggests. Submissions are due by June 30, and first place winners in each age range will receive $50 and move on to state competition. Information can be found at iercd.org.

On Friday, the group suggests joining the City Nature Challenge in which people can document the plants and animals they encounter. More information is available at citynaturechallenge.org.

Here are a few Earth Day celebrations Southern California groups have pulled together:

Riverside County

Riverside County Department of Waste Resources is offering Earth Day at Home Facebook live demonstrations on composting, reuse projects and vermicomposting at 10 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The first video was posted Tuesday at facebook.com/deptwasteresources.

The Riverside Plaza shopping center is partnering with One Tree Planted to plant a tree for every comment on their @shopriversideplaza Instagram profile about why you love the earth. The campaign runs through Thursday or until 1,000 comments have been received.

Regional

Sustainable Claremont, which also serves communities from Pomona to Rancho Cucamonga, canceled its event and is offering a week of sustainable action items through April 26 on facebook.com/SustainableClaremont. The public is encouraged to make a pledge to start a sustainable habit such as watering in the morning instead of in the heat of the day.

Nature for All suggests people share photos, drawings, doodles, etc. of their favorite natural places and parks around Los Angeles and tag them @lanatureforall. Include the name of the place and zip code, and they will compile locations on a map.

The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach for the first time will have a “Virtual Earth Day” event, a day filled with activities and special appearances by animals, themed classes for kids, interactive classes for teens and an evening lecture for adults. There will be animal appearances on the Aquarium’s Facebook page shown live at select times, as well as classes for kids and teens throughout the day.

For a full listing or more information, visit aquariumofpacific.org online.

California State Parks has been hosting a distance learning program and has a full schedule lined up this week leading up to Earth Day. Different times are geared at various ages for students doing online learning.

On Wednesday, there will be discussions throughout the day, such as one at 10 a.m. on the Northern Elephant Seals at Hearst San Simeon State Park for children in third through fifth grade, and a special Earth Day 2020 celebration at 11 a.m. aimed at sixth- through eighth-graders. More information can be found at ports-ca.us.

Staff writer Steve Scauzillo contributed to this report.