Finding Ways to Say “Happy Earth Day!”

April 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Image courtesy of NASA

Happy Earth Day! How are you celebrating today? Showing your support of Earth Day could be as simple as replacing an inefficient incandescent bulb with a new LED bulb, buying a reusable bag made from recycled material, planting a tree, shrub or other native plant in your yard, eating like a vegetarian for the day, or eating like a locavore. You can get an app for your smartphone from Locavore to help you find locally grown ingredients.

You can also find bigger ways to celebrate Earth Day by getting involved with sustainable organizations. The Earth Day Network has a site where you can find more information about Earth Day. Maybe this Earth Day is when you commit to make big changes in your life. Maybe today you decide to start biking to work or taking public transportation. Maybe today is the day you put in a compost or garden.

If you have the basics of reduce, reuse and recycle down, make bigger changes. If you don’t have the basics down, start incorporating them into your life.

1. Stop buying bottled water, bring your own reusable bottle

2. Stop accepting plastic and paper bags, bring your own reusable bags

3. Stop buying individually wrapped convenience items

4. Buy in bulk

5. Use rags instead of paper towels

6. Switch to glass food storage containers from plastic containers or disposable bags

7. Switch to recycled paper products like recycled-content toilet paper or recycled-content printer paper

8. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins

9. Stop eating processed foods. Eat real, whole food and then don’t waste it

10. Stop putting chemicals on your lawn, heck, get rid of your lawn

11. Unplug stuff around your house or use power strips to turn things off

12. Support fair trade

13. Shop at farmers markets

14. Install low-flow faucets, aerators, toilets and shower heads

15. Take five minute showers

16. Shop in secondhand stores

17. Switch to non-toxic cleaners

18. Lower the temperature on your thermostat in the winter and increase the temperature on it in the summer

19. Weatherproof your home

20. Talk about sustainability

This list could go on and on, but this should get you started. Do you have some more ideas? Post them in the comment section. We can all learn from each other. Make every day Earth Day.

Filed Under: Energy Efficiency, Environment, Food, Holiday, Recycling, Reduce and Reuse, Sustainability Tagged With: , , ,

Happy Earth Day!

April 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Have a Happy Earth Day! I hope each of you learns one new idea on going green that you can incorporate into your life. Every day should be Earth Day and we should use Earth Day to highlight what more we can do to make our planet and our lives better. As you travel through your day, think about each decision you make and try to make a greener choice.

1. Walk or bike instead of driving.

2. Take advantage of mass transportation.

3. Remember your reusable water bottle or travel coffee mug.

4. Switch out five of your most used light bulbs for a CFL, LED or ESL bulbs.

5. Hang your reusable bags on the doorknob, then remember the bags for all your shopping trips.

6. Refuse straws in restaurants and bring your own reusable straw like the Dharma Straw

7. If you do have to drive, bundle all your errands into one trip.

8. Slow down and do not speed.

9. Put flow restrictors on all your faucets.

10.Reduce your use of plastic packaging by buying in bulk and not buying single serve items.

11. Buy second-hand when you can.

12. Reuse what you already have.

12. Always, always, always recycle!

13. Pick up plastic trash that you find.

14. Use less plastic in every aspect of your life.

15. Buy local!

16. Buy organic.

17. Support your local restaurants that also buy local.

18. Start a garden.

19. Or, go to the your local farmers market.

20. Remember, we all share this planet. It is the only one we have, and if we destroy it, we destroy ourselves.

Filed Under: Energy Efficiency, Holiday, Local, Organic, Plastic, Recycling, Reduce and Reuse Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,