30 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
30 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
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Recycle – your small habits add up to something much bigger. Imagine if everyone thought their contributions didn’t matter – we’d be stuck with a WHOLE LOT more pollution. Know what you can and cannot recycle - we can help - READ THIS
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BYOB – This stands for Bring your Own Bag AND Bring Your Own Bottle. Skip the plastic bags for vegetables and groceries, and invest in a few water bottles and reusable coffee cups for your on the go adventures
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Calculate Your Carbon Footprint – When you know how much CO2 you use up, you become more aware of small changes you can make to shrink that. There are many carbon footprint calculators available online – check them out to determine how much CO2 you produce daily, even yearly!
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Turn Off & Unplug – Just because your toaster oven isn’t on, doesn’t mean it’s not using power – unplug! Turn off lights when you’re not in the room, unplug small devices and phone chargers when not in use, and anything else you can think of that you are not using in that exact moment.
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Carpool, ride your bike, or use public transit. Doing this helps reduce your carbon footprint and air pollution, and also reduces the amount of traffic in your area, plus saves a few gas dollars while you’re at it!
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Consume Less Meat – Even if it’s just for a day (Meatless Monday’s!). The high demand for meat has attributed to water pollution and air pollution. See how many gallons of water you can save by going meatless – they also have these calculators online for easy reference.
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Green Your Home – Not everyone can afford solar panels, but you can make a switch to energy efficient bulbs, low flow shower heads, and low flow toilets. These can also save you some money.
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Water Conservation – Turn off the faucet while shaving or brushing your teeth. It’s a simple task that can save gallons of water. Also be sure to not leave your faucet running while cleaning dishes – take an extra two seconds to switch the water on and off, your wallet and the environment will thank you – please also be mindful that there are STILL areas in the US without clean water – don’t take this for granted. Take shorter showers, only wash full loads, wear clothes more than once; conserve wherever possible.
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Plant More Plants – Create a garden patch and grow your favorite veggies, or bee-loving flowers and herbs. You can get super sustainable by planting drought tolerant plants that need less watering, such as succulents.
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Donate More – If you’re not using it, wearing it, or loving it, donate it instead of tossing these things out. Create more space in your own home, and upcycle things that no longer serve you a purpose. This helps the community and helps declutter your space.
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Thrifty Finds – Second hand shops are popping up all over, and more apps are available now than ever for finding second hand treasures. From clothes, to furniture, to books, you can find it all in good condition for half the price.
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Pick Up Trash – “To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash” – Bill Nye. This rings true, if you see it, pick it up – even if you didn’t leave it there.
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Shop At a Farmers Market – This helps support your local farmers, and you’ll find some of the tastiest and freshest items here.
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Buying Fruits & Veggies in Season – Buying in season means saving $$$ and it costs less for farmers and distribution companies to harvest and get to your local grocery store. When buying in season, you’re also getting the best tasting and healthiest foods available. Know what’s in season before you shop!
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Cook More – Cooking at home means less pre-packaged waste, and less take out containers. Cook smart by covering your pots and pans to conduct more heat for shorter cooking times, planning your meals ahead so you only have to use the stove or oven once in the day, or meal prepping to get a week full of meals cooked in one night.
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Composting – Seriously, why aren’t you composting yet? We’ve made it so easy to get started! Composting helps divert food waste from landfill – when food is in landfill, it isn’t able to properly break down and creates methane gas in the process, yankow, the gas that’s contributing to global warming! Toss into you own outdoor compost pile, or your organics bin to be collected on garbage day.
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Green Clean – Use ecofriendly soaps & cleaning sprays with earth friendly materials, or make your own. Grab a reusable cleaning cloth instead of reaching for a petro-chemical filled wipe or paper towel. This will help the amount of waste you contribute, and save you dollars in the long run.
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Eating At Work/School - When bringing your lunch to work or school, use a reusable lunch bag or box, and your own utensils, napkin, and plate ware. This will help reduce single use waste, plus eating with real silverware is SO much better!
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Repurpose or Upcycle Jars & Other Containers – Keep your coconut oil jars, salsa jar, mint tins, etc. and find a purpose for them! Jars are great for leftover sauces, shopping in bulk for granolas, seeds, nuts, and mint tins are great for knick-knacks like buttons for sewing, bobby pins, earring for traveling – the possibilities are endless. Pinterest can help with cool ideas to upcycle and repurpose jars.
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Air Dry When Possible – Air drying is always the more sustainable option that using energy to dry. This includes your hair! Use a clothes-line system if you have enough room in your back yard to dry jeans, tops, sheets, towels, you name it – this will also help you save some dough.
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Get Out in Nature – Celebrating Earth is so easy, we are surrounded by beautiful nature and there’s always something amazing about our surroundings; from the ground we are able to walk on, to the sky, to the infinite amount of stars. Talk a walk, go for a walk, or visit a beach and express gratitude.
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Bring the Green In – Get more house plants! Not only are they lovely to look at, but they also help clean the air. Read more about why house plants are awesome here.
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Have a Screen-Free Day – Try going a day without using anything with a screen – yes this includes your phone! Spend the day outside, reading a book (not on a screen using device), play a board game, and entertain and relax without the use of screens. This helps save energy and is also a great break and reflective time that we can use to re-energize.
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Go Paperless – Get bills or bank statements delivered electronically, or opt out of getting a paper receipt unless absolutely needed. A lot of stores and companies not offer electronic receipts which is really helpful.
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Stop Drinking Bottled Water! – Not only are these part of the huge pollution problem, but water bottles are to blame for the micro-plastics, INSIDE of your bottled water,- micro plastics were found in 90% of bottled water – so get reusable and stop buying into bottled water.
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Get Involved – Join or create a community effort to help make your community a little greener. This could be having a creek clean up, beach cleanup, and informational booth at a market, etc. Get out there and get involved.
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Stop Buying Plastic Kitchen Utensils – Plastic kitchen utensils aren’t good for your health or for the environment. Make the switch to stainless steel, bamboo or Molded Bamboo.
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Write a Letter – Getting in contact with someone in power can help contribute to new policy changes regarding water safety, forest preservation, clean air, recycling, etc. To find their contact information, go to your states or local government website.
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Junk the Junk Mail – Opt out of receiving junk mail, or add a “no-junk mail” sign to your mail box that notifies the mail carrier – this works in some areas.
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Encourage & Educate Others – Encourage others to get involved, and to care. It’s important to educate and teach people about how their impact and daily habits can attribute to so much more.
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Skip the Plastic Straw – Stop contributing to the single waste plastic problem! We use 500 million plastic straws every day in the U.S. Many of those plastic straws end up in our oceans, polluting the water and harming sea life. If we don’t act now, by 2050 plastics in the ocean will outweigh the fish. If you must - get a REUSABLE Straw - these are much better for the environment.
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Utilize this list as often as you can – Make every day, Earth Day!
Other Posts You Might Enjoy:
75 Ways You Can Live A More Sustainable Life
How To Separate Your Recyclables & Why It's Important
25 Ways To Conserve Water at Home
- Gabriella De Luca