Berkeley Earth Day lives on as an independent guide to greener living around the Bay

We celebrate Earth Day all year round. Berkeley Earth Day gathers the ideas that made the old street festival special: a shared vision for a sustainable future, practical ways to reduce your impact on the planet, and the belief that you can have fun doing it. In these pages you will find:

• guides to eco-friendly products and the green vendors worth supporting,
• Bay Area community groups and the activism they share,
• delicious vegan food in Berkeley and the science of plant-based eating,
• the history of Earth Day, from the 1970 teach-ins to the 50th anniversary,
• environmental film, including the Wild and Scenic Film Festival on tour,
• and a lighter Green Gaming desk that looks at casinos, raffles and betting through an environmental lens.

GETTING AROUND: everything we recommend in Berkeley can be reached on foot, by bike or by BART, and our event checklists put access first, from step-free routes and sign language interpreters to dog-friendly outdoor spaces.

A hallmark of Berkeley Earth Day was that it hosted the Wild & Scenic Film Festival On Tour, a travelling selection from the South Yuba River Citizens League's annual environmental and adventure film festival in Nevada City. The films speak to the concerns and the celebrations of our planet, with frontline activism and striking cinematography.

The festival's later home, the David Brower Center, is a LEED Platinum building in the heart of downtown Berkeley, one block from Downtown Berkeley BART. We still encourage everyone to walk, bike or take public transportation around the city. For those who drive, metered street parking in Berkeley is free on Sundays, but spaces near busy streets go fast.

The original festival never had a casino table, yet games of chance have long helped green causes, from the raffle drum at a street fair to fundraising nights for local nonprofits and conservation groups.

Our Green Gaming desk follows that thread with the same eco-minded curiosity: solar-powered resorts in Las Vegas, the footprint of a weekend on the Strip compared with an evening of online play at home, tribal clean-energy projects and how weather betting markets work.