Mother Earth is life of the party at Riverbanks’ Party for the Planet

Shaden Sunderlin was shocked to learn it can take 600 years for fishing line to decompose.

That’s upsetting, 8-year-old Shaden said, “because if stuff gets stuck on animals, some are probably going to die from the stuff. And we don’t want animals to go extinct and die. And that’s why you shouldn’t litter and throw cans everywhere, and plastic wrappers and all that.”

Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens gave kids and their parents a hands-on education Saturday about the importance of cleaning up the environment at the zoo’s annual Party for the Planet event, in honor of Earth Day.

Thousands of visitors flocked to the zoo and gardens for a day that also featured Riverbanks’ annual plant sale, with dozens of varieties of unusual and hard-to-find flowers and shrubs. More than 100 people were lined up early in the morning before the gates opened to get their hands on botanical beauties such as “pineapple guava,” “elephant ear” and “golden-eyed grass.”

But Party for the Planet was the day’s main attraction. With exhibits, learning games and, of course, a close-up view of animals that share the planet, this year’s event focused on ways to take action to protect Earth and its species from harmful trash.

Also as part of the event, the zoo asked visitors to take a pledge to refuse to use plastic for the day.

“Every piece of plastic that’s ever been produced is still in existence today,” said Syndi Castellucio, the zoo’s coordinator for education volunteers who oversaw the day’s special activities. “This one (action) is simple, but with the idea of a huge impact. ... It also gets you thinking more about, ‘What else can I do?’ ”

In one activity, children were given objects such as a diaper, a newspaper, a sock and fishing line and asked to guess how long the items would take to decompose.

One of the adults accompanying Shaden and a group of his baseball teammates stood back and listened in on the lesson – “Did you hear that? An apple takes two years to decompose? ... I’m going to put one in the yard and test that.”

With their three daughters, Kinsley, Kassidy and Khloe, Shelley and Ned Price were getting as much or more of an education as their little ones.

“It’s new to me. It’s something we’re going to have to work on,” Shelley Price said. “I had no idea things take so long to break down.”

Party for the Planet, as well as many of the zoo and gardens’ regular exhibits and features, gets families interested and involved with environmental activities together, said Katie Flint, Riverbanks’ children’s garden horticulturalist. She led activities Saturday, encouraging children to plant seeds in their yards and think about what the earth means to them.

“There are a lot of kids out there who really do care about the planet, even at a young age,” Flint said.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Mother Earth is life of the party at Riverbanks’ Party for the Planet."