The April 22, 2012 Earth Day "Picnic in the Park" celebration at Railroad Park in Birmingham, Alabama.
 

        As part of the Earth Day 2012 celebration, The Nature Conservancy held a worldwide event titled “Picnic for the Planet”. The “Picnic” was held April 22, 2012 in conjunction with other Earth Day occasions with the theme of the project being to bring people outdoors in what might become the world’s largest picnic. As the focal point of the celebration, The Nature Conservancy sold picnic tables that were to be decorated and displayed at Earth Day happenings sites. The relatively new Railroad Park in Birmingham, Alabama was one of these locations hosting tables and picnickers.     The Alabama Clean Water Partnership (ACWP) was given the opportunity to decorate a picnic table for display through the generosity of O’Neal Steel Corporation’s Birmingham office. With water quality education being one the concerns of the ACWP, the theme for the tables paint design was a light lesson in the State of Alabama’s many watersheds and the diversity within. After the initial event, the table remained on display for two additional weeks at Linn Park in downtown Birmingham. The table was returned to the ACWP after this time with hopes that it might be used to further the partnership’s message to new audiences.
     On June 14, 2012 the table was donated to school principle Dr. Michael Wilson and the children of Glen Iris Elementary School. The table will be used with, or in conjunction to their new outdoor education classroom project being undertaken this summer. The school was recommended by Tom Maxwell and Mark Rubino of the Staysail Group who were familiar with the plans for the outdoor education program through contact with Fred Kapp. Mr. Kapp is the Education Liaison with the Alabama Green Industry Training Center and is working personally with Glen Iris in this project and others.

L to R - Fred Kapp, Dr. Michael Wilson, Mark Rubino, and Tom Maxwell


 Students in the summer program at Glen Iris Elementary School in Birmingham, Alabama.
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/05/birminghams_glen_iris_elementa.html