Ways To Celebrate Earth Day

Ways To Celebrate Earth Day

Earth Day is coming up and is celebrated every year on April 22nd. It is an important day to raise awareness about pollution, recycling, and protecting our planet and wildlife. Since Earth Day’s initiation in 1970, we have celebrated the holiday annually for 52 years.

Protecting our planet wasn’t always a concern. Prior to 1970, hundreds of factories were spewing out clouds of toxic pollutants into the air and at first, nobody thought anything of it. As more and more pollutants were released, communities started to become concerned. This was when the talk of Earth Day became tangible.

Earth Day was officially created in 1970 in efforts to raise awareness to the issues that our planet is facing and to create more ways to help reduce the risks of further harming our planet Earth. Since then different laws have been passed in an effort to protect our planet, each other, and our wildlife: Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, Oil Pollution Act, and others.

With every passing year we are seeing more people start to practice protecting our Earth daily. Whether that is by driving electric cars, avoiding using straws, plastic bags, and/or other single use plastics, Earth Day is starting to become less of a holiday and more of a lifestyle.

Below are just a few ways that you can celebrate Earth Day this year. However, it is encouraged to incorporate these habits into not just an annual holiday, but within your daily living.

Ways to celebrate in schools or with kids

1. Visit national parks virtually: national parks hold a lot of history. Visiting them virtually in class can get students involved in experiencing nature historically.
2. Neighborhood safari: have your neighbors either draw or print pictures of different wildlife animals and have them hang them in their front windows. Then you can tour your neighborhood and look for each animal.
3. Start a seed garden: starting a seed garden is a great way to get kids to learn about farming and where fresh foods come from but also teaches them care and responsibility. It also heightens their senses and is great for sensory processing.
4. Make nature art: take leaves, stones, sand, sea-shells and turn them into art! You can trace them onto paper, string them, or use some glue to create a beautiful piece of art.
5. Host a clean-up day: get students involved in cleaning up their playgrounds and school property.

Ways to celebrate at work

1. Challenge your co-workers to see how little plastic they can use that week. Google “plastic island” to see why.
2. Find eco-friendly way to work: car pooling with coworkers is a great way to make going to work a little more eco-friendly.
3. Hold a donation event or sale: gather coworkers and raise money for a local non-profit organization that is dedicated to making the Earth a better place.
4. Company picnic or walk: during breaks or lunch, get outside instead of spending it in the office. It’s even better when you do it with a group!
5. Yoga Happy Hour: yoga is a wonderful way to move your body and tap into mindfulness.

Ways to celebrate in your community

1. Support local farm markets: visit your local farmers market and purchase fresh local foods. Supporting our local businesses instead of big box stores is always rewarding.
2. Plant trees: this is a rewarding project to do, not only do you plant a tree, but you get the honor of watching it grow over the years.
3. Reusable bags: bring your own reusable bags to the stores instead of using plastic ones.
4. Organize a beach clean up: gather friends and family members to spend a few hours scanning and cleaning up your local beaches.

Ways to celebrate at home

1. Start a compost: this a good way to reduce waste and give it back to the Earth.
2. Make bird feeders: this can be a fun family project and it helps to feed the local wildlife.
3. Get out in nature with your loved ones: Go for a hike or a walk on the boardwalk. Enjoy the beauties of nature.
4. Conserve water: take shorter showers, stop running the water while you brush your teeth or shave, and make sure faucets are closed tightly to prevent dripping.
5. Stop online shopping: while it is convenient, shipping and delivering packages cost us a lot of gas pollution and waste.

These are just a few ways to help protect our planet Earth. If we all start making small adjustments into our lives, we can expect big changes in the end. Think of 4 things: reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle. Try to incorporate these 4 environmental habits, as well as other healthy lifestyle habits, into your daily life. By doing so, we are taking steps to protect our planet, our wildlife, and our future generations.