Host of Events Will Mark Earth Day

People-powered art will roll down the Ventura Promenade. Native American storytellers will share their tales in Oxnard. And a noted scientist will talk about what he learned from one of the world’s oldest women.

Earth Day, officially celebrated on Wednesday, has spawned a variety of activities starting this weekend.

On Saturday, Oxnard’s sixth annual Earth Day Festival will showcase everything from earthworms in action to the sights and sounds of local musicians and dancers, said spokeswoman Jessica Craven.

The city-sponsored event will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at downtown’s Plaza Park. Attendees will be able to learn how they can help the environment at the more than 40 booths manned by conservation groups, spokeswoman Jessica Craven said.

“They’re going to learn how they can make a world of difference by making simple changes in their lives,” she said. “And they can hear how the world came to be from stories by a Native American storyteller.”

Admission and parking are free. For more information call 385-7928.

Ventura’s take on Earth Day includes “The Eco Challenge” on Saturday along the Ventura Beach Promenade.

“It’s a people-powered rolling racing art show,” said organizer Riki Strandfeldt of Ventura’s Turning Point Foundation.

All proceeds benefit the nonprofit group that helps the mentally ill.

There are eight race entrants, including one by UCLA engineering students and the victorious entry in NASA’s Moon Rover competition last year from UC Santa Barbara.

Contestants in the Kinetic Sculpture Race will be judged on artistic and theatrical merit as they race along the route in their creations.

The race begins at Surfers Point at 4 p.m. and ends near the pier at 6 p.m.

Afterward the kinetic racers will be on display in The Times parking lot at 93 S. Chestnut St. for the eco-Artwalk that night. More than 50 venues will host environmentally minded art exhibits.

The sun should shine on the weekend’s Earth Day activities, with forecasters predicting highs in the mid- to upper 60s at the beaches and upper 70s inland.

On Wedneday, Moorpark College’s fourth annual Science Expo from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. will mostly be indoors, with more than two dozen lectures and three dozen exhibits including “The History of the Automobile.”

It’s the biggest version of the free event ever, said Scott Kemp, president of the student-run Math, Engineering and Science Assn., which is organizing the event.

“Spending a day at Science Expo could very well change how you look at the world around you,” he said. “It offers such a huge breadth of knowledge, and on top of that it’s just plain fun. You can’t help but learn something new.”

Daytime lectures range from “Cadaver Dissection”--featuring an actual corpse--and “The History of Technology and Its Effect on Employability in the 21st Century.”

The evening lecture series boasts a group of prominent scientists including Donald Johanson, who discovered the famed fossil nicknamed “Lucy.” He will give a 7 p.m. talk titled “Lucy: The Search for Human Origins.”

Other speakers include Ronald Blum of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who will discuss the “Application of Space Technology for Discovery of Ancient Ruins.”

For a full list of events at the Expo call 378-1486 or check the event’s web site at https://www.mesaexpo.org/. People wishing to attend Johanson’s lecture must request a ticket in advance at the same telephone number.

On Wednesday--officially Earth Day--Ojai’s Sunbow Ecology Center shows two award-winning National Park Service documentaries: “Denali Wilderness,” a chronicle of land and life in the Alaskan national park, and “The Lake of Blue Waters,” a portrait of Oregon’s famed Crater Lake.

Admission is $10 for the double feature, which begins at 7 p.m. at Matilija Junior High School auditorium, 703 El Paseo Road in Ojai.

A meet-the-filmmaker fund-raising reception that costs $15 is set for 6 p.m. at Local Hero bookstore downtown in the Arcade.

Proceeds benefit the Sunbow center, a nonprofit educational organization. Call 640-1037 for more information.

Also Wednesday, the Navy and the Sustainability Council of Ventura County will present the fourth annual Renew America Teleconference that takes a look at the effect of global warming on the region.

Professor Angela Constable from Cal Lutheran University will speak on “Local Impacts of Rising Sea Levels,” and Kevin Ready of Santa Barbara County will give a talk titled “Negotiating Oblivion.”

The event at the Port Hueneme Navy base runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and costs $20, including lunch and a tour. Call 982-2105 for more information.