Earth Day is coming up on April 22. Do you plan to celebrate it somehow?
Earth Day dates back to 1970, when it was a day of activism and a celebration of our collective home, following in the wake of a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, the Cuyahoga River catching fire, and the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The 1970s saw multiple environmental laws passed in the United States, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act.
Throughout my lifetime, I’ve seen a lot of Earth Day celebrations focus on individual action, rather than governmental or corporate-level policy change. Corporations put out a lot of marketing around Earth Day and their sustainable initiatives, but rarely announce large scale changes in corporate practices. On a governmental level, despite the many Earth Day activities and marches, there usually aren’t any legislative measures taken based on Earth Day campaigns. This is all sad to me. It feels like the messaging around Earth Day has gone from country-wide legislative demands to individual action.
That’s not to say that individual action is meaningless. When adopted by individuals across the country, individual changes can make a large difference. And it is incumbent on all of us to do our best, not just for our planet, but for our neighbors, for vulnerable communities on the other side of the world, and for future generations.
Every year, I see a lot of listicles and blog posts promoting ideas for how to reduce your environmental footprint, and I find those tips helpful but also overwhelming. So many things we’re supposed to change! So instead of writing a long list, I decided to focus on 6 simple thing you can do this month to honor Earth Day’s principles.
(#1) Donate to an environmental organization.
The easiest way to contribute to protecting our planet is by donating to an organization that already does that work. It’s even better if you make that donation monthly, if you can afford it. Organizations work locally or nationally to advocate for policy changes and conservation projects. They also educate the public and pursue litigation against companies and agencies that violate existing environmental laws.
You can find local, national, and international organizations through Charity Navigator, or through a Google search for environmental organizations in your area. Green Dreamer also compiled a list of organizations. If you prefer to support local conservation projects, you could look at a regional or state park’s website and donate to the organization(s) that run the park.
(#2) Learn about a local environmental issue and contact your local representatives.
There’s a saying to “think globally, act locally.” There are probably decisions being made within your city, county, or state that affect the local environment. Pick up a local newspaper, or find a local environmental organization’s website, to learn about the environmental issues directly affecting your community. Take some time to contact your local representatives, whether they’re city council members or state representatives, to let them know what you’d like them to do. Just make sure you’re contacting the person who has a say in that specific issue!
(#3) Volunteer for nature.
Look for opportunities for parks maintenance or neighborhood clean-ups. These can be one-time volunteering events or ongoing weekly or monthly shifts. You can find these through local parks associations. Some state parks have a “Friends of” group that runs volunteering events. Look up what state or local parks are near you, and check their websites for volunteering dates.
[Check out my post about How to Volunteer When You Have No Time.]
(#4) Plant a pollinator-friendly plant in your yard.
Assuming you have a backyard, plant something to feed the essential pollinators! Pollinators like bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats (don’t forget the bats!) are vital to agriculture and biodiversity. But pollinators have been struggling due to habitat loss, use of pesticides, environmental contaminants, and climate change. We can help keep up pollinator populations by providing them with more food sources.
Popular plants include milkweed, lavender, asters, and herbs. There are also some shrubs and trees that bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds favor. You can find native plant lists for pollinators through The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation’s website here.
(#5) Reduce your meat consumption.
The production of meat accounts for 14-18% of global greenhouse gas emissions and over 2/3 of agricultural land use just to feed livestock. From pollution to water use to deforestation, consumption of meat has an outsized negative environmental impact as compared to other types of food production. Reducing meat consumption would also allow cropland used for growing animal feed to be re-wilded, improving greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage. A recent study found that making substitutions such as swapping high-carbon meats (like beef) with low-carbon meats (like chicken) could cut the average American’s dietary carbon footprint by a third. 1
The production of beef creates 8-10 times more carbon emissions than chicken and up to 50 times more than beans. 2
Try reducing your meat consumption for the month. Make meat, particularly high-carbon meat like beef and lamb, a real treat and not a staple of your diet. If you eat meat at every meal, try cutting out meat from one daily meal. You can easily find vegetarian or vegan recipes online, and restaurants now have vegetarian options beyond simply salads. (Meat also tends to be more expensive than vegetarian options, so you may even save some money!)
(#6) Do a No Buy Month.
You can read my full post about doing a No Buy Year here. A No Buy is basically a personal challenge to buy only necessities for a set period of time, whether a month or season or year. Some people do this to simplify their lives, others to save money. And some environmentally-conscious folks try No Buys in order to reduce their consumption to benefit the planet.
A No Buy can benefit the environment by reducing your consumption. The less you bring into the home, the less you toss. Part of this is the packaging; nearly anything we purchase will come with plastic, paper or cardboard packaging. But it’s also the actual stuff we buy.
Take clothing for example: the average American buys 53 pieces of clothing a year. 3 And yet, 65% of clothing items are thrown out within a year of their purchase. 4 That probably means they were not necessities! Making clothing, like any other object, requires resources like water, chemicals, and fiber materials, and results in pollution from both the manufacturing and transportation of the product. A recent report found that we should each buy only 5 new clothing items a year if we want to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. 5
Doing a No Buy Month won’t make the impact that a year-long challenge would, but it’s much more doable and may result in longer-term behavioral change. Plus, you may inspire others to rethink their own consumption habits.
Sources:
- https://woods.stanford.edu/news/meats-environmental-impact ↩︎
- https://sph.tulane.edu/climate-and-food-environmental-impact-beef-consumption ↩︎
- https://fashionunited.com/statistics/global-fashion-industry-statistics ↩︎
- https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230227-how-to-recycle-your-clothes ↩︎
- https://www.vogue.com/article/how-many-clothes-should-we-own ↩︎
