Project Planet : Special observances of Earth Day, which was officially Wednesday, will be held in the county on May 1, 2 and 3.

This week the planet is in the spotlight. Earth Week officially began Monday and runs until Saturday. Earth Day was officially Wednesday. Tonight, at 7, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit will be the topic of Ventura County Cablevision’s “Focus on the Environment” on channel 8.

Insofar as our strictly local observances of Earth Day are concerned, folks hereabouts have decided to do things on May 1, 2 and 3. Daylong Earth Day public gatherings, including presentations on the Earth Summit, will be held in Thousand Oaks Community Park on May 1 and 2, and Channel Islands National Park on May 3.

A special display of electric vehicles will take place at the Oaks Mall on May 2 in the neighborhood of the Thousand Oaks gathering. Scores of exhibitors, presentations and awards events will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the park.

As usual at such gatherings, food will be a big feature--both as a consumable and as a topic for discussion.

“The Channel Islands Park event will be vegetarian for the first time,” reports Jeanette Scoville, one of the organizers. Both sites will have information booths run by Mothers and Others for Safe Food, where guides to sources of organic food in our county will be on sale. City and county officials will give tips on “smart shopping,” advising consumers which food manufacturers’ packaging is better for the environment.

There will also be a special food-oriented display that your kids will love and you may find a bit horrific.

“Our display of killer snails always steals the show,” says Stan Roberts of Somis’ Agland Services. “The kids love it.” His booth at the Thousand Oaks event will feature decollate snails and parasitic insects, which his firm uses in orchards it operates in our county to control pest infestations.

“Beneficial bugs and beneficial snails,” Roberts calls the creatures that eat the creepy crawlies plaguing the lemon crop. But they don’t go on to eat the fruit, nor do they otherwise annoy the grower.

Parent advisory: This booth in the past Earth Day shows has developed a reputation as a “hands on” exhibit. You may want to schedule a long visit to an herb society booth or even “Earth Art by Rob” while your kids consort with the killer snails. They’ll also encounter a “beneficial bugs” booth at Channel Islands Park, provided by Rincon Vitova.

By now some sharp-eyed junior readers may have noticed that all this eco-stuff gets going on a Friday. A school day. Well, it’s also your lucky day if you live in the Conejo Valley Unified School District or have a teacher with an environmental orientation and a van.

School Day for Kids is the name of the Earth Day program Friday at Thousand Oaks Community Park. Choral and dance groups from Meadows Elementary and Aspen Elementary, among others, will e giving presentations and cruising the outdoor eco-mall of exhibits.

One of the big hits is sure to be Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal and Management Teaching Zoo at 1:30 p.m.

At Thousand Oaks Community Park, the serious side of the environment--which readers of this column know I would identify as the place where eco-nomics and eco-logy intersect--will be the focus of a business symposium from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. An awards luncheon and panel discussion on the benefits of corporate environmentalism will involve, among others, the Ventura County Economic Development Assn.

Earth Summit Update: The Ventura County United Nations Assn. booth at the Channel Islands Park Earth Day event will have information available on the effort “to get Washington to take this summit seriously,” according to Warren Faue, local chapter president.

Tonight’s Ventura Cablevision TV show will have a report from Kathleen Gildred, who was an observer at the summit preparatory meetings at U.N. headquarters in New York last week.

“The U.S. government’s performance there got an F grade,” she told me. She also revealed that the European Community only got a C.

Faue and Gildred recommend calling either the White House at (202) 456-1111 or a local Congress member to put them on notice that you hold them accountable for Washington backsliding on the environment. She suggests an additional phone number to register protest--(800) LEAD-RIO.

* FYI

Ventura County Earth Day: For information on events and exhibits at Thousand Oaks Community Park on May 1 and 2 and Channel Islands National Park on May 3, call 497-8611. For information on the Earth Day business symposium and luncheon on May 1 in the multipurpose room at Thousand Oaks Community Park, for which there is charge of $15, call 495-2908.