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With Earth Day today and Arbor Day Friday, residents around the community are finding ways to protect the environment this week.

To gear up for Earth Day, Junior Girl Scout Troop 4241 from Luxmanor Elementary and Tilden Lane Middle schools organized a park clean-up event last Sunday at the Heatherton Lane Tributary located near Seven Locks Road in Potomac.

Other Girl Scout troops including, Cadet troop 1717, Brownie troop 4510, Junior troop 3731, also joined in the effort planned with the help of the Alice Ferguson Foundation, which supplied gloves and trash bags and also identified the site, which impacts the Potomac River. The foundation is an environmental nonprofit that works to connect people with the natural environment, farming and the cultural heritage of the Potomac River Watershed.

"The girls selected this project with Earth Day in mind," Susan Verner, a parent of a girl in the troop, wrote in an e-mail to The Gazette. "Our goal is to provide leadership and girl power to help clean our parks, while working toward the troop's fulfillment of the Bronze Service Award."

For those who like their "green" with a little dose of fun, join the like-minded Bethesda chapter of Green Drinks to celebrate Earth Day this evening with a letter-writing campaign at Redwood Bar and Restaurant.

Green Drinks is a monthly gathering of people who care about the environment, but also about having fun. Tonight's Earth Day event will launch the Bethesda chapter with appetizer and drink specials from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Bethesda restaurant, located at 7121 Bethesda Lane.

Green Drinks chapters throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed are planning to come together today to stage a same-day gathering in their respective cities to rally support for action to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Green Drinks is partnering with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Foundation's letter-writing campaign to ask the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce the Clean Water Act for the benefit of the Chesapeake Bay.

"We are coming together on Earth Day to ‘toast' our Chesapeake Bay and write for action from the EPA on the road to the Bay's restoration," Michel Huebner, founder of Green Drinks Bethesda, said in a statement. "We know we can count on Green Drinkers to unite and join in!"

For more information, e-mail Huebner at michel@sagesconsignment.com.

And for young environmentalists under the drinking age, Little Falls Library will host an Earth Day Celebration featuring activities, stories and crafts from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday at the library, 5501 Massachusetts Ave.

The free event will feature environmental storytelling by Ellouise Schoettler at 1:30 p.m. and by Jane Dorfman at 3 p.m. Other activities will include making eco crafts with the Friends of the Library, Little Falls Chapter, onsite worm composting, assisting Boy Scouts with planting a tree donated by American Plant Food, planting a seed to take home with the Springfield Garden Club and a demonstration by the Audubon Society.

The Earth Day Celebration is sponsored by Friends of the Library, Little Falls Chapter. For more information, call the library at 240-773-9520.

Learn about the Middle East

in Garrett Park

When it comes to Western perception of Middle Eastern women, Andrea Rugh says sometimes we're the ones wearing the veil.

The Garrett Park resident, an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute who has spent more than 40 years living and working in the Middle East for the Harvard Institute, USAID and UNICEF, is hoping to help locals get a wider worldview with a talk at Thursday's Garrett Park Women's Club entitled "Another View of Arab Women."

"Like everything else about the Middle East, there are an awful lot of misconceptions about Arab women and the point of my talk is not really to condemn or promote some of the practices that exist there but to explain where they come from," Rugh said.

That will include discussions of everything from education and politics to dress and tribal customs such as honor killings, Rugh said.

"I think we've been often too quick to sort of look at picture of women in the newspaper and all that and imposing our own value judgments on them. In all my years in the Middle East I've never heard an Arab woman say taking off the veil is something that is very important to them," Rugh said. "These things have a lot of meanings that we don't really quite understand."

Rugh will give her talk at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Garrett Park Town Hall, 10814 Kenilworth Ave. All are welcome but seating is limited.

Make your blue jeans green

Amicus Green Building Center in Kensington is partnering with Habitat Restore of Montgomery County, Cotton Inc., and National Geographic to collect old denim jackets, jeans and other items to use as eco-friendly insulation in Habitat for Humanity homes. Starting today through June 15, denim items may be dropped off at Amicus Green Building Center, 4080A Howard Ave., Kensington. Denim drop-offs are also located at Bethesda Green, 4925 Cordell Ave., Second Floor in Bethesda and Habitat Restore, 9100 Gaither Road, Gaithersburg.

B-CC Rescue Squad

launches volunteer drive

Residents interested in volunteering with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad now have the option of joining the Saturday Day Crew and spending each Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with the squad. Previously, new volunteers were required to stand duty one night per week from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. "Saturday daytime duty is a new option available to volunteers who prefer not to have to sleep at the station overnight," Battalion Chief Jason Hershcopf said in a statement.

The squad, one of the nation's most advanced and best trained rescue squads, is launching a membership drive to recruit new volunteer members. Residents 18 years or older who want to experience the excitement of responding to emergency calls and serving the community to volunteer a minimum of 12 hours a week as Emergency Medical Technicians, paramedics and firefighters. Applicants need no prior experience or training to join the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad.

The Rescue Squad has a diverse membership that includes people of all ages and cultural backgrounds, and professions ranging from accountants to full-time parents and government employees to school teachers. The Rescue Squad's 150 volunteers make a valuable contribution to the community, and they gain essential training and rewarding life experiences.

For information on volunteering, call the membership hotline at 301-657-5557, email membership@bccrs.org, or visit www.bccrs.org. The Rescue Squad's current recruiting drive runs through September, although the Squad recruits volunteer members year-round and welcomes applications for membership anytime.

Congratulations

-Jaclyn Weinman, daughter of Brad and Deborah Weinman, formerly of Potomac, was recently invited to membership into the Emory University Goizueta Business School chapter of the Beta Gamma Sigma international honorary society. This is the highest recognition a business student can achieve. Weinman will be graduating in May, and will be working in New York City for a major investment bank. She is a 2005 graduate of Walt Whitman High School.

-Kensington resident Annie Engelstad, a sophomore at St. Andrew's High School in Potomac , was nominated by her school to attend the 31st Annual Hugh O'Brian Youth Maryland Leadership Seminar at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg in May. Only one eligible sophomore is nominated from each attending school to be a HOBY Ambassador.

The seminar is a leadership forum that encourages attendees to learn more about the democratic process, leadership skills and self-development. Ambassadors are encouraged to perform at least 100 hours of community service upon returning from the seminar.

This column is for you. Share your good news! Feel free to send press releases and news tips. For Bethesda and Chevy Chase items, contact Stephanie Siegel via e-mail at ssiegel@gazette.net or phone at 301-280-3006. For Kensington and Garrett Park items, contact Jen Beasley via e-mail at jbeasley@gazette.net or phone at 301-280-3005. You can also send information by fax at 301-670-7183, or snail mail at 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.