By EMILY D. COOK / Community Columnist

Earth Day is an annual event, usually celebrated worldwide on April 22, though many events take place the week or two before and after.

It is done to promote and show support for environmental protection.

Earth Day began in 1970 and has been going strong since then.

Events range from beach and trail cleanups to tree plantings to walks promoting greener transportation.

We can celebrate Earth Day all year long by doing simple things to help the environment.

One thing we can do throughout the year is use reusable bags to go to the grocery store instead of getting the plastic bags.

Did you know it takes more than 10 years for one of those bags to break down? That’s a long time for a plastic bag to hang around.

Does anyone like drinking soda from an aluminum can? I admit I like sodas.

If we recycle 50 aluminum cans, we can save enough energy to power a laptop for almost 260 hours.

Do you like taking out the trash? I know I don’t but it is something that has to be done.

However, you can reduce the number of times you have to take it out by composting and recycling.

Composting consists of taking food items like egg shells, stalks of vegetables, banana peels, apple cores, coffee grounds and placing them in a location in your yard along with leaves and grass clippings and letting them break down on their own to become soil that can be used for planting more vegetables and fruit.

By doing this, you reduce what goes in the garbage can, thus what goes to the landfill.

On April 16, Oak Mountain will host two trail cleanup opportunities ahead of Earth Day.

At 10 a.m., meet at the entrance to Group Camp Road on John Findlay Drive, grab a trash bag and help clean up the trails in this area.

At 1 p.m., meet at the Marina Parking Lot to grab a trash bag and help clean up the Lake Trail.

At the same time, learn about Alabama’s natural resources and ways to protect them.

Please remember that you keep Alabama State Parks open by visiting them. Thank you for your support.