Make Every Day Earth Day
Earth Day has come to be a well-known annual celebration. It brings millions of people together to fight for a positive future. Many different causes have our attention and need to be addressed and positive action also needs to occur daily to help improve the environmental crisis we are facing.
Now, before getting into how you can make every day Earth Day let’s get into what it is and why it’s celebrated.
What is Earth Day? When and Why is It Celebrated?
Earth Day was established by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson—who was inspired to ignite the environmental movement. It was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, to raise awareness of environmental concerns and to force it on the national agenda.
This article from EarthSky states that the creation of the first Earth Day was also a way to bring together various groups who were “fighting separately against issues including oil spills, pollution from factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, the loss of wilderness, air pollution and more.”
Protecting Earth’s natural resources and conserving them for generations to come is vital.
How Can You Incorporate Earth Day into Your Personal Life and Business Every Day?
Make every day Earth Day instead of only one day! Here are ways you can make eco-friendly choices and take action every day in your personal life and business.
(Also, even though the lists below are separated into personal and business some of them can be applied to either category.)
Personal
Reduce your plastic consumption: I challenge you to evaluate how much plastic you consume. Take a week or two (I recommend two weeks), if you are feeling up for the challenge, and take every product that has plastic and store it in a designated area.
You could put them in a box or a recycling bin. If you choose the recycling bin make sure you don’t put it out for collection before your challenge is over, so you can see your total plastic consumption all at once.
It tends to make a bigger impact on you when you can see an entire pile instead of bits and pieces, here and there.)
Use reusable bags: When you use reusable bags instead of plastic bags you help cut down on the waste that doesn’t break down at the landfill and you help prevent them from finding their way into water—the ocean, rivers, lakes, etc.
Plus, you might not even realize it, but it could also help you reduce your grocery bill.
Think about it, you tend to have a certain amount of reusable bags, so you are more conscious of how much you are buying because you want to make sure everything fits inside and you can carry them, especially if you choose not to use a grocery cart.
When you opt for plastic bags, it seems like there is an endless supply, so you are more likely to not even think about how many items you are going to buy.
Use reusable bottles: You cut down on plastic consumption. It’s shocking to see how many single-use plastic bottles you can use in only a few days.
Participate in or organize a beach clean-up: Help your community by participating in or organizing a beach clean-up or a clean-up of some kind.
While you’re removing waste from the land and water and protecting Earth and all its creatures, you get to meet other like-minded individuals. You might even make a new friend! It’s a win-win situation!
Participate in or organize a community garden: A community garden helps to reduce water runoff and the cost of transporting goods.
While this helps the environment by being more sustainable it simultaneously gathers the community, improves nutrition, and provides physical activity for those who are involved.
Prepare vegan meals: Per The Humane League, following a vegan lifestyle helps to protect forests and animals and reduce water and energy consumption. Forests and the homes of a vast amount of animals are destroyed when land is acquired to produce their product, such as the meat industry.
Grow your own fresh food: Start a home garden. It doesn’t have to be huge. You can start by growing lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs—thyme, cilantro, and basil. Once, you get into your groove you can grow more— if you have the space.
Experiment! See what you find easiest to grow. There’s something special about planting, nurturing, watching something grow, and then enjoying the fresh and delicious taste of it. Is it me or does food seem to taste better when you grow it yourself?
Immediately by growing your food, you eliminate the use of plastic! You also help save the pollinators, i.e., bees, butterflies, and birds, which we need. They help us with all the effort they put in for plants to grow, such as vegetables and fruits.
Another result of their hard pollinating efforts is cleaner air. Plants supply us with oxygen, clean the air, and provide support to all types of wildlife.
Start composting: Composting reduces waste and it’s recycling. It recycles materials by breaking them down, organically, and returning the nutrient-dense food to the soil. If you already started a garden you can use your compost to help nourish the soil and your plants.
Unplug devices that aren’t in use: It’s very common for people to detach their phones from its charger, but leave the actual charger plugged into the wall.
Even when you only leave the charger in the power outlet without your phone attached it’s still using power.
How many devices and small appliances do you leave plugged in all the time?
The toaster?
The countertop microwave?
The coffee maker?
Do you need everything plugged in all the time?
This is often overlooked, but can help reduce unnecessary power usage.
Reduce water usage: To help use less water you can use your dishwasher and only run it when it’s full, take shorter showers, turn the water off when you’re brushing your teeth, and save up your piles of laundry to do fewer loads.
If you don’t have a dishwasher you can turn off the faucet when you are scrubbing a dish and turn it back on when you are ready to rinse.
You can also have automatic faucets installed at home or in your business bathroom and break room and use an energy-efficient washer and dryer.
Business
Use waste-free packaging: Instead of using plastic, you can use cardboard boxes and bonus points for compostable ones!
Make changes to your office: Switch to LED light bulbs and focus on digital documents instead of printing everything.
Start a recycling program: If you don’t have a recycling program in place for your business or at your place of work, then start one.
Stop food waste: Limit the amount of food you order for your team by asking how many people want to eat what is being ordered. Also, have people bring in food they don’t need or want anymore, such as canned and boxed goods, and donate them to a local charity.
Plant trees: You could organize a tree planting event on the weekend or plant a tree when a customer buys a product or service.
If you decide to follow the plant after a product or service is bought route, then you can keep track of the number of trees that need to be planted and plan to have them planted every month—you can decide what plan is most efficient.
The Benefits of Incorporating Earth Day Every Day
To continue to make life a reality, Earth needs to be protected. There are benefits to incorporating Earth Day daily, such as:
Making environmentally good decisions becomes a habit and easier.
It makes a bigger impact because you’re doing things every day instead of only one day.
Long-term sustainability: This helps to improve the planet and ensure future generations will have access to Earth’s natural resources.
Improved water quality: Less contaminates are in the water sources —lakes, rivers, oceans, etc.
Improved air quality: As mentioned earlier, by taking the time to make good environmentally conscious decisions, such as starting a garden, bees, birds, butterflies, and more pollinate plants. Then, plants help to supply oxygen, clean the air, and provide support to wildlife.
Natural resources conservation: Vegetation, soil, air, waterways, wildlife, and their habitats are saved and protected. Also, the progression of global warming slows down and Earth continues to exist.
The Consequences of NOT Incorporating Earth Day Every Day
Now, let’s imagine if people don’t take the initiative and do their part in protecting Earth’s natural resources. What do you think the consequences would be? Here are some negative effects if we don’t collectively take action to improve the environmental crisis:
Increase in air and water pollution: The more carbon emissions and debris there are the more they will contaminate the air, water, and ecosystems.
Increase in deforestation: When you don’t follow sustainable agricultural practices to help protect the environment, including forests, and conserve natural resources, more deforestation will occur.
Extinction of a vast number of species: When the environment isn’t protected numerous species lose their habitats and food supply and eventually lose their lives.
Increase in the number of landfills: Having more landfills is not the answer. According to National Geographic, “Although modern landfills are designed to keep toxic trash contained, leaks do happen. Therefore, landfills are still dangerous to the environment and human health. The methane that is released due to the decomposing waste is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change.”
Loss of biodiversity: Biodiversity is the natural world that’s around us. It’s critical to support all life—humans, animals (including insects), plants, and microorganisms.
Conclusion
I know it can be a challenge to find alternatives to change how we do things, in general, but think of it this way — focus on 1 thing to change at a time.
You can either start by focusing on something you find more challenging and that you know would make a big impact on how you are helping to protect and conserve the planet, e.g., choosing to use reusable bags for all of your grocery shopping. Every person will have certain things they find more challenging to change than another person.
Another approach is to focus on something you find more manageable to begin with, e.g., switching out buying single-use plastic bottles of water with using a reusable bottle.
Remember, no one is perfect. It’s a work in progress. This is something that I regularly work on to find ways to improve.
The following are steps to help you become successful and make a difference.
Acknowledge that there is a problem and understand the problem.
Come up with a solution.
Devise a plan to address the problem.
Implement action.
Re-evaluate to see if improvements can be made.
The more you put this into practice, the easier it will become to make more environmentally healthy choices about what you do and buy.
By protecting the Earth you help save humanity!
Are you ready to take action and make a difference?
If you are interested in getting help with showcasing your vegan and environmentally friendly business please check my services and click the button below to schedule a free discovery call.
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