Earth Day is coming up fast! Obviously Earth Day isn’t a major holiday but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate it. In fact the whole point of Earth Day is to take a day to remember the Earth and give back.
1. Eat Vegetarian for a Day
Livestock farming has a huge impact on the environment. Not only does livestock produce a lot of greenhouse gasses that contribute to global warming, it also impacts the earth in a number of other ways from land to water contamination.
Eating vegetarian can help lighten the burden placed on the Earth by livestock farming. You don’t have to go full vegetarian though, even cutting back on meat or committing to go meatless once a week can make a difference.2. Pick Up Litter
Picking up litter in a park, field, beach, etc. is a classic Earth Day activity. This is a great way to have a direct impact in your local community. Picking up litter is easy but can make a real impact.
Choose a location that could use some love and gather your friends and family to pick up trash for an hour. You could also commit to going during your lunch break to do some trash collecting. Do what you can, anything is better than nothing.
3. Avoid Single Use Plastic
Single use plastic is one of the worst contributors to pollution and our ever-growing landfills. In fact our oceans are becoming filled with single use plastic like plastic bags, bottles and packaging. There are now massive floating islands of plastic that are beginning to invade our oceans. Some statistics say that there will be more plastic than fish in our oceans in the not too distant future.Earth Day is a great opportunity to evaluate how much single-use plastic you’re using and make a goal to cut back. Using reusable grocery bags and water bottles are a great place to start.
4. Use Public Transit
If there’s a day to ditch your car and opt for public transportation, it’s Earth Day. Taking the train or bus is a great way to show the Earth you care. If public transportation isn’t an option for you, consider walking, biking or carpooling.
5. Enjoy Nature
Spring has been a long time coming this year and it still hasn’t made up it’s mind but Earth Day is a great time to simply get outside and enjoy nature. Go on a walk or a hike, play outside with your kids or just sit outside and breathe in the fresh air.
6. Learn More About Recycling
When recycling is done right it’s a great way to help keep trash out of landfills. The key here is that it needs to be done right. When you recycle things that don’t meet the standards of the recycling company in your area they end up getting thrown away anyways.
This is why it’s so important to learn about the recycling program in your area. It’s pretty simple to look up and find out what your recycling company does and doesn’t accept. In addition find out how clean your recycling items need to be.
7. Begin a Compost Heap
In that United States food waste is a huge problem. According to the USDA, food waste is estimated 30-40 percent of the food supply. That’s a lot of food waste. Most of the time that food waste ends up in landfills where it can’t decompose and be reused. You can start breaking down and reusing your own food waste with a compost heap. You can easily set one up in your backyard with a few different methods. Compost is great for adding to a garden so you’re reusing your food waste instead of letting it go to waste.8. Start a Garden
Speaking of gardens, use Earth Day as your inspiration or excuse to start a garden. Gardening is a great way to get outside and give back to nature. Gardens attract and support nature’s essential pollinators.
Bees are dying out at an alarming rate and without them we’re in big trouble. Planting a garden gives them the food and refuge they need. A garden is also just another great excuse to get outside to enjoy nature.
9. Donate to a Good Cause
If you don’t have time to do something to celebrate Earth Day that’s ok, there are definitely still ways for you to give back to the environment. There are many organizations that you can donate to in order to help save the environment or endangered animals. A quick Google search will provide you with plenty of options, all you have to do is pick one that you like.
10. Go Solar
Last but not least, one of the best ways to help our planet on Earth Day and every day is by going solar! Adding solar panels to your home can help eliminate 80% of your home’s carbon emissions. That’s a huge impact!
Solar panels don’t just help you save the environment, it also helps you save money too! With solar panels you can start producing your own electricity and cut down on your electric bill. We have some customers whose pay-off was as little as five years! That means they’ll be producing power for free for the next 20+ years potentially