IRONTON, W.va. (WSAZ) -- The importance of going green is never emphasized more than on the holiday dedicated to our planet.

Folks across the country Thursday will be celebrating the 40th Earth Day.

Joe Bass has applied the day’s message year round.

“I saw that something had to be done,” he said.

Bass is a biology major at Ohio University Southern in Ironton. He also works in the school’s facility management.

Two years ago he started a program called Recyclemania, putting up recycle bins all over campus.

It didn’t take long to get other students behind him.

This year Bass says nearly 7 thousand pounds of waste was recycled.

“I went out a couple years ago with the consciousness of being green and was able to make it happen,” he said.

The school is hosting an Earth Day celebration Thursday from noon to 6 p.m. with live music, games, and tree planting.

It’s part of sending out a green message that Bass says is even more relevant now than on the first Earth Day 40 years ago.

“We need to find a more efficient way to deal with our waste products, our food, energy use, and find something more efficient, especially the way the economy is at this moment,” he said.

The Barnett Center in Huntington will be another one of many spots across the tri-state holding festivities.

They’ll have international foods, face painting, vegetable games, as well as an appearance by the Salvation Army band.

Organizers say taking care of the planet should be a top priority every day.

“We’ve only got one Earth,” Huntington Community Gardens coordinator Eve Marcum-Atkinson said. “We need to do what we can to take care of it, to be good stewards to the earth.”

Hundreds of elementary school students from Putnam, Kanawha, Cabell and Braxton counties will descend on the Clay Center in Charleston to take part in this year's Earth Day celebration.

The kids will get to participate in a variety of projects and events.

All of the fun starts Thursday morning at 10.