Some schools have homecoming weekend; College of the Atlantic has Earth Day.

“Earth Day is the only celebration that COA has really stopped everything to recognize,” said Milja Brecher-Demuro, coordinator for the school’s festivities, set for Saturday, April 21. “Since the beginning of the school, that’s one that we’ve celebrated, for the main reason that it speaks exactly to what COA is about.”

Thanks to phenomena such as Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” the environment has been an especially hot topic over the past year. Now more than ever, the issues that COA students study are at the forefront of national consciousness.

“There’s been a lot of questioning about what’s gone wrong. We are looking to celebrate what’s going right, and what’s beautiful about the earth,” said Brecher-Demuro. “We’re looking at the forward thinkers, and those who have worked to help us have a smaller footprint on the earth, and to have it last as long as possible.”

To that end, the theme for this year is “Home is Where the Earth Is: A Celebration in Renewing Community,” and events will focus especially on community involvement in making Earth a cleaner, better place to live.

There are several additions to the usual lineup of lectures, workshops, children’s activities and food, including the first “COA-Palooza,” featuring an evening of music from COA students and alumni.

Keynote speaker Cathy Johnson, North Woods project director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine and a 1974 COA alumna, will give a talk about the future of Maine’s North Woods. Lectures about environmentally friendly parenting, midwifery, alternative education and socially responsible retirement planning also are scheduled.

Earth Day this year also functions as an alumni weekend, with former students from around the country invited to attend. Some of these alumni are part of the photography exhibit at the Ethel H. Blum Gallery, while others are participating in the daylong alumni film festival at McCormick Hall.

The heavy rains from earlier in the week should be mostly gone by the time the festivities kick off at 10 a.m.

“I’m crossing my fingers,” said Brecher-Demuro. “We’ll have it rain or shine.”

Highlights of events

For a full schedule, visit www.coa.edu

All-day events

10 a.m.-4 p.m.: Photography exhibit at Ethel H. Blum Gallery; Alumni Film Festival at McCormick Lecture Hall; free admission to Dorr Museum’s “Turtle Travels” exhibit; food booths from local restaurants and caterers; book and plant sale.

Children’s activities

11 a.m. and 3 p.m.: Puppet shows.

12:30 p.m.: Children’s parade.

1:30-4 p.m.: Kite flying.

1:30 p.m.: Bluebird house building.

Presentation Tent on the North Lawn

11 a.m.-noon: “Human Ecology in Action: Great News from Homebirth Midwives” with Anna Durand.

Noon-1 p.m.: “Green Earth, Healthy Baby” with Sarah Keeley.

1:30-2:20 p.m.: “Waldorf Education Today: Its Triumphs and Trials” with Stuart Summer.

2:30-4 p.m.: “Secrets of Socially Responsible Smart Retirement and Estate Planning” with Fielder Mattox.

Main Stage

1 p.m.: Keynote address, “Maine’s North Woods at the Tipping Point: McMansions in the Wildlands” by Cathy Johnson.

Campuswide

10 a.m. and 3 p.m.: Felting workshops with Virve Hirsmaki.

2-4 p.m.: Macroinvertebrate activity with the Union River Watershed coalition.

Gates Center

7 p.m.-1 a.m.: COA-Palooza, featuring music from Brooke Brown-Saracino, Aaron Lewis & Ed Brogan, Marion Grace, Sanguine, Homophonic Megafauna and The Shakes.