Thursday Night Nature: Earth Day: The History and Future of the Planet’s Biggest Day with Mike Weilbacher (April 24, 2025)

On April 22’s Earth Day, an amazing one billion people in 190 countries will pause to commemorate the planet– planting trees, cleaning shorelines, engaging in teach-ins and sit-ins– making it the world’s largest non religious holiday. As a historian of Earth Day, Mike Weilbacher’s visually engaging lecture explores the rich and surprising history of the event, with a special focus on Philadelphia’s 1970 week of programming that garnered national attention. From the 1970’s past-event passage of a huge raft of legislation, to the birth of curbside recycling in 1990, to today’s global incarnation, Mike looks at the day’s accomplishments– and peeks into his crystal ball to predict its future.

Writer-naturalist Mike Weilbacher is an environmental educator with 40 years of experience teaching through lectures, walks, newspaper essays, theatrical performances and radio. His first book, Wild Philly, features 29 nature walks in the region, plus tons of additional information about nature and the environment. His article on horseshoe crabs and migrating shorebirds along the Delaware Bay has been recently published in Philadelphia Magazine.

Weilbacher travels the area offering lectures, walks and other programs on nature and the environment, talking about issues like climate change and protecting monarch butterflies. He’s presented many times at Preserve. A former nonprofit executive director, he’s known to public radio listeners as “Mike the All-Natural Science Guy” on the award-winning children’s radio show “Kid’s Corner” on WXPN, where he has been talking to children about nature and the environment for more than 35 years. Check out his website mikeweilbacher.com for more information.

Program Fee: $15 (Members, enter your code at checkout to receive your 20% discount.)

All lectures will be held virtually using Zoom. They will be recorded and shared with everyone who registers for a short time.