Earth Day - 58 days and counting

We opened for our first season last year on Earth Day, 22nd April.

It seemed a fitting day to open the greenest building in Atlantic Canada and to raise awareness about the environment. It also seemed appropriate for us to establish a regular calendar of our own, which ties our season into existing national and international calendar events.

As already mentioned, this year is Darwin 200 and hylonomus 150, which we shall be celebrating with a number of events and festivals but we are also investigating other notable dates and events, which we too can celebrate in our own way.

For example, did you know that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and where better to see the stars, than from right here in Joggins? where there is no light pollution and the celestials are glorious in the massive expanse of sky above the Bay of Fundy.

2009 is also the US Year of Science (with a heavy focus upon evolution) and this year is also the International Year of Natural Fibers and of Reconciliation. Not sure how we can tie into those but perhaps there are some of you reading this who might be inspired. Here are some other worthy dates for your diary:

• 22nd May is the International Day of Biodiversity.
• 4th July is the International Day of Cooperatives
• 7th July is one year since the inscription of Joggins onto the World Heritage List
• 20th September is the International Day of Peace

We are still working on our calendar of events (which will be posted on our website of course) but the date to remember at the moment is 22nd April 2009, Earth Day, when the Joggins Fossil Centre opens its doors once again for the season.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin

Joggins, by all accounts should be the home of the most evolved life forms on earth.

Why? Well, it was here at Joggins that Sir William Dawson discovered the first true reptile, Hylonomus lyelli, ancestor and great great great great grandfather of all dinosaurs that would rule the earth 100 million years later.

This tiny reptile serves as the reference point where animals finally broke free of the water to live on land. This evolutionary milestone recorded at Joggins remains pivotal to understanding the origins of all vertebrate life on land, including our own species.

2009 holds a number of anniversaries, pertinent to us here at Joggins, not least the 200th birthday of Carles Darwin, father of evolution but also the 150th anniversary of the discovery of Hylonomus and the publishing of Darwin's on the Origin of the Species.

So, like all London buses, there are no celebrations for a while and then three come along at once!