This Saturday, March 17 is St. Patrick's Day. This day is held in honor of St. Patrick, who brought Christianity to the Irish people in the 400's A.D. Over 34 million Americans have some Irish in their blood. But don't worry if you don't. Everyone is at least a little Irish on this day. So wear some green, try some corned beef and cabbage, and "may the wind be always at your back."

Children, ages 4-9 with a caregiver, join us Tuesday, March 13 from 7:00-8:00 PM to celebrate all things green. We will sing some festive songs, share some lucky tales, create some golden crafts and enjoy some green treats. This St. Patrick's Day themed program is supported by Target and the Friends of the Canton Public Library and each family will receive a special St. Patrick's Day book to add to your home collection. Registration begins Tuesday, February 28, 2012.

Give us your tired, your poor, your worn out magazines, newspapers, and catalogs; your huddled masses of school and office papers; the wretched refuse of your teeming junk mail yearning to be recycled! Place your recyclable papers in our large bright yellow and green bins (in the southwest corner of the library parking lot), and the library will receive money from Paper Retriever Recycling. You'll not only help the library, but you'll also make a positive impact on the environment.

Hey Kids,
Being green is definitely the color to be these days, whether you're a kid or a frog. Kermit the frog from the Muppets is green and even sang a song about it. This fun program for 1st-3rd graders will be all about things that are green, as well as celebrating the coming of spring. Online Registration opens April 4.
Program Date: Monday, April 18, 11:00-11:45AM.

Libraries are the ultimate practitioners of the three Rs of the green lifestyle. Just think of the trees and money you'll save by checking out books from your local library instead of purchasing them, thereby reducing your consumption. And talk about reuse! You can read a book or watch a DVD over and over, then return it to the library for someone else to use. When it comes to recycling, you can donate your old materials to libraries for used book sales.

Spring is a great time to clean out your file drawers for old documents and paperwork. However, many people worry about the safety of throwing away sensitive records and most home shredders are not powerful enough to handle large amounts of paper at one time.

If you are considering shredding for those piles of paper, Office Max offers a secure shred service for $.59 per pound. Those documents that are shredded are then recycled, making it an environmentally good choice as well.

When I think of St. Patrick's Day, I think of the color green. Frogs, leprechauns, grass, green beans, there are a lot of green things in this world. Sure, you hear a lot of Irish songs for the holiday, but there are many other "green" songs out there. Here are some other songs that celebrate all things green!

Green eggs and ham and other servings of Dr. Seuss by Seuss, Dr

Under the green corn moon: Native American lullabies

Rockabye baby!: lullaby renditions of Green Day

Hey Kids, check out Ranger Rick magazine in the Children's Department. Ranger Rick is a clever raccoon who is the leader of a small group of animals. He and his friends come up with ways to solve some of our environmental problems. This magazine offers you great information and photographs of all kind of animals, as well as cool stuff in the ocean. It also offers "green tips" for kids, Ranger Rick's comic adventures, games, crafts and stories about real kids and their adventures. It's a fun read, with lots to look at!

From now through this Friday, April 30, all the recyclable paper you place in the library's bright green and yellow Paper Retriever bins (located in the southwest corner of the library parking lot), will generate double earnings for Canton Public Library. So gather up all your old newspapers, magazines, junk mail, school and office papers (cardboard and phone books are not accepted). We'll be happy to lighten your paper load while you help the library earn extra cash!

Beginning November 1st Target will give a 5¢ discount for every reusable bag customers use to pack their purchases. Over the next three weeks CVS will also roll out a similar program in its stores. Participating CVS customers will receive $1 cash bonus on their CVS card every four times they buy something but don't request plastic bags. Smaller retailers such as Trader Joe's, Hiller's and Whole Foods have been offering financial incentives to re-use bags for some time. With large retailers like Target and CVS following suit the two programs could keep billions of plastic bags out of the environment and nudge other big retailers to take similar steps.

[Photo courtesy of AP Images]

The wind turbine pictured here is one of 32 harnessing clean electricity on Harvest Wind Farm in Elkton, MI. (I took this photo during a summer trip to the Thumb Area.) Michigan Wind 1, with 46 turbines, is another wind farm located just north of Elkton in Ubly, MI. Major energy companies like DTE and Consumers Energy are tapping into these and other wind farms in Michigan to supply electric power to their customers. Combined, both wind farms generate about 122 megawatts of electricity — enough to power roughly 35,000 homes.

Wind, solar and geothermal are among the most promising methods to generate clean, renewable energy. You can learn more about a clean energy future by reading Hot, Flat and Crowded, by Thomas Friedman, best-selling author and Pulitzer-prize winning columnist from The New York Times.

Got the birthday party blues? Want to host a wonderful birthday party for your youngster but can’t afford the trendy birthday venues? Then throw a great children’s party at home. It’s easy and fun with some great craft and food ideas from some books at the CPL. I would recommend the easy to follow craft books, The Crafty Diva’s D.I. Y. Stylebook, and make it!. Both are loaded with information and ideas for simple crafts that are appropriate for kids aged 5 to 18. As an added bonus, all the crafts contained within make it! are eco-friendly because they are made from items you would normally recycle or throw away.

Green Flowers: Unexpected Beauty for the Garden, Container or Vase by Alison Hoblyn, photographs by Marie O'Hara

This book is a terrific inspiration for a tone-on-tone garden bed. Some of my favorites include Hacquetia epipactis, Euphorbia lathyris (mole plant), and Bupleurum rotundifolium (hare's ear).

Eco Craft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle by Susan Wasinger is a collection of thirty eco-friendly projects for your home. The projects run the gamut, from recycling sweaters into a knitted rug to re-purposing plastic six-pack holders into a modern screen/divider to altering old books into holiday decorations.