Earth Day is being observed throughout the world on Friday, and a group of Dexter teens worked this week on a special Earth Day project. embers of the local Teenage Republicans worked Wednesday at Bell Mini Park and plants four garden spots. Teens participating were (front from left) Samantha Midgett and Morgan Cluff; (back row, from left) Luke Robinson, Kyle Kent, Keaton Altom, Nate Watkins and Jacob Robinson. (SMT photo by Annabeth Miller)

By Annabeth Miller, ShowMe Times Editor

The annual effort to raise public awareness about the environment and inspire actions to clean it up marks its 41st anniversary on Friday, coinciding with the Christian Good Friday and Judaism's celebration of Passover.

A group of young people in Dexter celebrated Earth Day a bit early this year. On Wednesday afternoon the Teenage Republicans group gathered at the Bell Mini-Park in Downdown Dexter to help brighten a bit of the downtown district.

The group of students were armed with garden tools, potting plants and water buckets and readied the four garden beds at the downtown park and planted red, white and blue plants that will bloom all spring and summer.

Group advisor Nancy Mayer said this is not the first year for the group to “adopt” the park as a community project.

“This is their third year to adopt this park,” Mayer said. “This is the group’s way of giving back to the community.”

Bell Mini-Park is on Walnut Street, between Stoddard and Vine streets. Included in Wednesday’s group were Morgan Cliff, Samantha Midgett, Luke Robinson, Nate Watkins, Kyle Kent, Keaton Altom and Jacob Robinson.

Throughout the country groups are planning special activities for this year’s Earth Day observance. In an effort dubbed "A Billion Acts of Green," organizers are encouraging people to observe Earth Day 2011 by pledging online at act.earthday.org/ to do something small but sustainable in their own lives to improve the planet's health -- from switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs to reducing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals.

There will be hundreds of rallies, workshops and other events around the United States, where Earth Day was born, and hundreds more overseas, where it is now celebrated in 192 countries. In the years since the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 the environmentalist movement made great strides with passage of the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act and other groundbreaking laws.

National Earth Day observances include:

At participating Starbucks, you can bring in a reusable mug on April 22 to get free brewed coffee or tea.

• Origins is offering a trade-in program on Earth Day. Receive a free full-size face cleanser when you bring one of your empty skin-care bottles (from any brand) to an Origins retail store or department-store counter for recycling. Choose from A Perfect World Antioxidant Cleanser With White Tea or Checks and Balances Frothy Face Wash.

• Disneynature’s newest movie, “African Cats,” opens with a limited run on Earth Day, Filmed over a span of several years, this epic true story was captured in one of the wildest places on earth, Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Relating stories of the lion cub Mara; the cheetah, Sita, and her brood of five; and the lion Fang, leader of his pride, “African Cats” is an awe-inspiring adventure, as well as a heartwarming tale.