The most important date in the calendar for environmentalists this year is April 22 and if you’re looking for ways to go green for Earth Day 2017, look no further. This is one annual celebration where you aren’t expected to splash the cash, dress in your finery and make a big song and dance about the occasion. Earth Day is the one day of the year when absolutely everyone should be environmentally conscious and many of the ways to go green for Earth Day are easy and actually very frugal, so there’s no reason everyone cannot participate and do their bit.
Trees are a hugely important part of our ecosystem. They use up all of our carbon dioxide emissions and bring much needed oxygen to our environment. One of the best ways to go green for Earth Day is to plant a tree – so why not plant a couple? If you can’t plant one in your own garden, get involved in local community projects and see if your local nursery would be willing to donate trees to underprivileged areas to get them involved. Trees are the gift that keeps on giving.
Earth Day is a great opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment. Planting a tree is one of the best ways to celebrate Earth Day and contribute to the environment. Trees are essential to the environment, as they absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, and can help reduce air pollution.
Trees also provide many other benefits, such as providing habitat for wildlife, reducing soil erosion, and providing shade. Planting trees can also help conserve energy, as trees can act as windbreaks and reduce air conditioning costs. Trees also provide us with food, medicine, and wood products.
If you don't have the space to plant a tree in your own garden, there are other ways to get involved. You can volunteer with local organizations that are working to restore forests and plant trees in underprivileged areas. You can also look into donating to organizations that are working to plant trees worldwide.
Additionally, you can look into buying products made from sustainably sourced wood, such as furniture, building materials, and paper products. This ensures that forests are being managed responsibly and that wood products are being sourced from sustainably managed forests.
There’s nothing like an opportunity to have a BBQ for dinner, or to have a raw food meal that doesn’t have to use electricity to make – so no microwave meals for this one either. Switch off the stove and oven for a day and have a salad, or do your entire meal on the BBQ. Reducing your electricity consumption will go a long way in moves to go green for Earth Day.
What did we do before the days of cable TV, the Internet, movies and electricity? We used to light lamps or candles after dark and actually talk to each other, or read and play cards. There is nothing more romantic than a meal by candlelight without the distractions of white noise in the background. This could just well be one of the best ways to celebrate Earth Day. Leave the lights off and light candles and lamps - just take care to make sure they are all out when you go to bed.
We don’t all realize how much unnecessary paper we go through in one day with printing endless reams. Embrace a greener life on Earth Day and switch off the printer, and reuse paper instead of throwing it away. Take old paper home and let the kids use it for drawing pictures and projects instead of going out to buy them plain drawing paper. You will be surprised at how much less you use.
Leave the treadmill still and give the weights a skip for one day and dust off the running shoes and head out into the fresh air. Grab the dog off the couch – he may be as shocked as you are – and head out to the park. Nothing like spending time in your environment on Earth Day to remind you what a beautiful place we live in and the importance of looking after our planet. The fresh air will put some color into your cheeks and work up a nice appetite for that lovely salad too.
Leave the car at home and haul out your neglected bicycle and make the trip to work – if you can - on your bike. You can even put on your walking shoes and make it a day for walking to work. You never know that by going green for Earth Day, and walking or cycling to work, you may want to continue, and you may even drop a dress size or two.
Now I know that this is going to be a controversial suggestion of ways to go green in honor of Earth Day, but it is only one day! Sleep in for a bit longer and let your hair go without being heat styled for one day. Your hair will love you for the break from mechanical styling like straighteners, tongs, the hot brush, rollers and the heat of the hair dryer. Your electricity bill will also get a small break when you go green on Earth Day. Just wash and go; you will feel as free as your hair.
How many of us head straight to the couch after dinner, or even worse, with dinner, and put our feet up and start channel surfing? Right after pudding and a weepy episode of our favorite soap, we go to our bedroom and put on the TV there, flipping through channels until we fall asleep. No wonder our relationships have communication issues these days – TV has replaced our family’s time to talk. Embrace a green lifestyle on Earth Day and give the TV a miss, in fact do it for a week. You will be amazed at the difference at home.
So many of us throw away our vegetable peelings, tea bags, newspaper and other biodegradable items, then get in our car and drive to the nursery and buy compost for our gardens. None of this makes any sense, especially when you put it like that. One of the best ways to contribute to Earth Day is to start your own compost heap at home – you can even put your egg shells, the cardboard from your egg boxes and the wood ash from your fire place in there too.
If you’ve never considered embracing a greener life, you can see that these ways to go green on Earth Day are actually really easy, and there’s no reason why they can’t be the springboard into being more environmentally-friendly all round. Every little helps – will you be doing your bit for Earth Day 2017?