Earth Day 'jam' today in Liberty Park

After some dark clouds and sprinkles in the morning, Mother Nature provided lots of sunshine Saturday afternoon for various Earth Day events in the Salt Lake Valley.

Celebrations aimed at honoring and appreciating the planet continue today, the actual date of Earth Day. The annual "Earth Jam" will take place from noon to 9 p.m. today in Salt Lake City's Liberty Park, featuring various artists and musicians.

"We feel that in Salt Lake City, every day is Earth Day," Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson said at Hogle Zoo's "Party for the Planet" on Saturday. "As we've always stressed, nobody can do it alone. It takes everybody working together and doing their part."

Anderson highlighted some of the city's environmental efforts — reducing harmful global warming pollutants by 30 percent in four years; saving $33,000 a year in electricity costs by using energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL); and eliminating 45 sport-utility vehicles from the city's fleet.

"We can all achieve the cost savings," said Anderson, who encouraged people to carpool, recycle, use CFL bulbs and buy from local markets to help save the planet. "It takes every one of us, and we're all leaders in a certain way."

In conjunction with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Hogle Zoo was one of 141 zoos and aquariums in 42 states and countries throwing a "Party for the Planet." The zoo's event was one of the biggest across the state.

Hogle Zoo is trying to implement its own environment-friendly changes and has had its own "green team" in place for five years.

Just as people can help save the environment by changing their own actions, Hogle Zoo started by changing the way its staff operates.

"We're tying to create a green environment for the zoo as much as we can," said Jane Larson, an animal care supervisor and green team member. "Zoos are really conservation organizations and can be effective because we have such a big audience."

The zoo does extensive recycling, purchases recyclable materials, is converting its lighting to CFL and is a member of the Rocky Mountain Power Blue Sky program.

On top of that, the zoo has several rare conservation programs.

"One of the things we have the ability to do that's pretty unique is utilize recycling in our animal care (and) enrichment program," said Liz Larsen, another animal care supervisor and green team member.