10 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day With Little to No Planning
Apr 22nd, 2010 by Hazel
Are you feeling a little overwhelmed with Earth Day? Perhaps you feel pressured to fly up to Northern Canada to personally save a baby Polar Bear today… or completely renovate your roof to be one of those green-roofs you saw in photos from Europe.
Believe it or not, you don’t have to wrestle down global warming with your bare hands to celebrate Earth Day. Relax. Today should be fun! Here are 10 ways you can celebrate Earth Day today without making over your whole life.
Use a Reusable Bag, or Reuse a Plastic Bag: Heading to the store? Even if you’re just picking up a quart of milk or even going clothes shopping, using a reusable tote bag really cuts down on the waste you’re producing today. Don’t have a reusable tote yet? Don’t be afraid to grab a plastic bag you got with another purchase earlier this week. Then, at least, you’re getting more than one use out of it! And, if all else fails, really consider whether you NEED a bag or not. Have you ever noticed that if you just get one small item, they always give you a full bag? If you can simply carry the item in your hand, or even stick it in your purse, just say “no” to another plastic bag!
Have a Picnic: Your Earth Day picnic can be as expansive or as simple as you want. If you have an outdoor grill, picnic table, or outdoor dining set… have at it! Invite friends over, cook outside, skip the paper plates in favor of reusable ones, and celebrate how great it is to be outdoors. If you haven’t created an outdoor room, don’t be afraid to spread a blanket out on the grass, cook your food indoors, and just enjoy it outside. Working all day? Do what I’m doing: make your lunch (in my case, that’s heating up a can of soup and grabbing a yogurt) and take it outside to eat! No matter how you do it, just enjoy one of your meals outside today.
Plant Flowers: Not everyone has the time and space for a full garden. Heck, some people just don’t like it! But, try it out, just for today. You can get already blooming flowers that just need to be put in the dirt. Or, you can go get a pack of seeds and spread them. No yard? Try putting them in a planter or even just cutting the top off an old plastic soda bottle, filling it with dirt, and putting the seeds in there! Today’s the perfect day to get your hands a little dirty and plant something that will grow.
Get Out Your Patio Furniture: If you haven’t done it yet, today’s a great day to get all of your patio furniture out of storage. Remove those outdoor furniture covers, dust off the outdoor furniture cushions, and get your porch swings, porch chairs, and garden benches back to their favorite spots. This will not only get you working outside today, it will open up opportunities to enjoy the outdoors for the rest of the summer.
Fill a Birdfeeder: Help out a fellow creature today by filling a birdfeeder. Hanging a birdhouse or birdfeeder will help the birds get ready for the summer and give them plenty of nutritious food. You’ll feel good helping out your local wildlife, and will probably learn something too. Make sure you can see your birdhouse or birdfeeder from a window or a favorite piece of outdoor furniture. You’ll be amazed how many kinds of birds and birdcalls you learn just by casually observing them. And, remember, the first step to saving our earth is learning about it!
Go to a Farmer’s Market: Ditch your usual go-to super market today, and hit up the farmer’s market. Buying fresh and locally grown fruits and vegetables is good for your health, good for your local economy, and good for the earth as it reduces the amount of fossil fuels used to transport food over long distances. You’d be surprised how much of your usual foods you can pick up at a farmer’s market, and usually for not any more money that you’d pay normally. It’s an extra stop, but it’s a stop that makes a big difference!
Go For a Walk: Adopt a lower impact form of entertainment this afternoon. That’s right, turn off your television, turn off your computer (After you finish reading this blog post, of course! … or not, you can click out and shut off your computer now if you want.) , even leave your cell phone at home (can you do it?) and go for a walk. And, don’t bring that ipod either! Listen to the birds and the wind in the trees. Focus on the smell of the air and the colors of spring. You’ll be glad you did.
Use Water Bottles and Travel Mugs: Still reading? Okay, good. But, seriously. Go for a walk and have a picnic after you’re done reading this post! Don’t you dare grab a one-time-use bottle of water to take on your walk, in fact… don’t do it all day! If you stop for coffee on your way to that farmer’s market, bring a travel mug with you. You won’t believe how many plastic bottles and paper coffee cups people throw out every single day. Changing to a reusable water bottle or travel mug will reduce your impact a ton.
Hang Clothes Out to Dry: Did you know that people cooked, cleaned dishes, and washed laundry before modern appliances? It’s true! There were no clothes dryers on the frontier. Reduce your use of electricity by doing things in a more “old fashioned” way. Hanging your clothes out to dry instead of throwing them in the dryer will reduce fading, make them smell fresher than any dryer sheet, and uses absolutely no electricity whatsoever! Run a line in your backyard, or even just pull your clothes rack out on your back porch. If it’s sunny, it won’t take very much longer than a dryer anyway.
Make Earth Day Resolutions: Doing things like using water bottles and travel mugs, going outside instead of watching TV, hanging your clothes out to dry, going to farmer’s markets, and using reusable bags are all great things to do today. But, imagine if you adopted some of these practices into your everyday life? You don’t have to revolutionize your daily routines overnight, but just make one or two commitments for the rest of the year. Will you change all your light bulbs to the Compact Fluorescents? Will you always remember to keep a travel mug in your car? (FYI: If you’re driving through a Starbucks and hand them a dirty mug, they’ll gladly rinse it out for you before filling it backup), how about opting to hang-dry your clothes all summer? Little changes can make a big difference!
Happy Earth Day!
Hazel.
