Ditch the High-Maintenance Front Lawn and Plant Natives

As a Northern Californian experiencing a serious drought, I am thrilled to see more and more gardens being cultivated with plants that need no water. This method is called xeriscaping and it is gorgeous and has enormous variety. If you’re tired of the constant mow/water/fertilizer cycle of your lawn, consider getting rid of it altogether. It’s not as bizarre as it sounds. Some water conservationists estimate that up to 40% of a household’s water usage during the summer months is spent on outdoor watering, so ditching the lawn altogether can save you time and money, not to mention a precious resource. One eco-friendly option is to replace all that turf with plants indigenous to your region, which will require less water and look far prettier than any ol’ square of green grass ever could. Start a xeriscaping movement on your street.

Be Plastic Free

Give up the bottled water. Please? Not only is it ridiculously priced and horrifically wasteful, but also it fails to offer any benefit over tap water. Many brands draw their water from a municipal supply-as in, the same water that comes out of your tap for free. Additionally, bottled water companies aren’t held to the same stringent standards as public waterworks. And, adding final insult to injury, plastic bottles can often leach harmful chemicals into the water and then languish in landfills for thousands of years if not properly recycled. It’s better for everyone involved if you carry a jar or reusable water bottle to fill up instead. Drinking from a Mason jar is the ultimate in chic, too! 

Planting Trees is Good for All

In 1872, J. Sterling Morton founded Arbor Day, and that year over a million trees were planted in Nebraska. It’s usually celebrated on the last Friday in April (some states choose different dates depending on their weather for best tree planting times). Probably now, more than ever, we need to honor Morton’s big idea-trees hugely improve the quality of our lives. They provide shelter and food for our wildlife, clean the air, absorb carbon dioxide, and release oxygen. They mask noise, prevent soil erosion, and provide wood for fuel and buildings:all this plus the joy and wonder of such a majestic and wonderful plant.

Celebrate Arbor Day by logging onto arborday.org and finding out what you can do in your area. Save a tree by recycling paper. Plant a suitable tree in your garden or neighborhood and dedicate it to someone special.

Making the Most of a Rainy Day

Get a rain barrel:

    *Install the rain barrel at least six feet from your house. Locating it near an area you’ll be watering the        most makes for convenient use later

    *Ensure that your rain barrel has an overflow at least as large as your inflow-for example, if you have         rigged it so that water is collected directly from your eaves’ trough downspout, your overflow valve         should be as large as your downspout as well. This will allow your rain barrel to get rid of excess water      as fast as it collects it, which might be necessary if you live in a city with crazy, unpredictable weather        like my brother does.

    *If you are using the rain barrel to water your garden, consider using a soaker hose. You can attach the         hose to the rain barrel and then run it through your garden so that it covers the area you’d like. Now,         every time you see a rain cloud, you’ll get really excited!

Be a Pre-cycler

Try to recycle all the product packaging that an item comes in, from the cardboard box to the plastic sleeve. Buy fewer, but better-quality, products to ensure you won’t end up with a makeup drawer filled with stuff that doesn't live up to its promises. And finally, check out companies like TerraCycle (terracycle.com) that offer recycling programs for things like mascara tubes and lotion bottles. I am very proud that on my business card, alongside my title of “Publisher,” it also says “Office Composter” because I set up a full-scale recycling and zero waste program. Visitors dig it!

Breathe Easier

Having plants around is great for where you live and where you work. Not only are they lovely to look at, they improve the air you breathe! The following air-purifying plants look great, produce oxygen, and can even absorb contaminants like formaldehyde and benzene (commonly off- gassed from furniture and mattresses). The best part? Nary an electrical cord, nor a battery in sight. Ahhhh.

    *Spider plant

    *Peace lily

    *Snake plant

    *Elephant ear

    *Weeping fig

    *Rubber plant

    *Bamboo palm

Celebrate Earth Day Every Day!

This is the day to acknowledge your connection to your home planet and all the nurturing nature, bounty, and beauty you receive from this big blue dot. April 22 is Earth Day, celebrated annually in over 184 countries to promote a healthy environment and peaceful planet. Earth Day highlights our connection with nature, bringing awareness that each one of us is responsible for the destruction or abundance of our natural world...the only one we have. Earth Day makes us realize that each of us has a voice and every one of our actions matters; collectively great things happen.

Celebrate Earth Day by joining an organized group and help clear beaches and parks of cans, paper, plastic, bottles, and trash. Go with your family and friends, or go out alone. Look around your neighborhood to see what needs to be done. Petition your local government for more trees, cleaner waterways, and an end to industrial pollution. Use earth-friendly chemicals. Recycle paper and cans, and compost green matter.

Log onto earthday.org or check your local press to find out what is happening in your area, how to organize your own event, or what commitment you could make in your own small way to help save our Earth...and then make every day Earth Day.

Be of Good cheer

Open the doors for everyone-young, old, everyone in between- simply because it is a very, very, very nice thing to do.

Roll Out the Welcome Wagon

Greet your new neighbors with a homemade housewarming gift. You’ll make a new connection and help them feel more at home. Good neighbors can last a lifetime and bring a real sense of community on a daily basis.

Extend an Invitation to Life’s Rich Banquet

If you see a uniformed soldier or veteran in a restaurant, arrange to pay for their meal. Anonymously is perfect unless you want to thank them personally and “enlist” a new friend into your life!

Support Farm-to-School Projects

By teaching kids exactly where their food comes from, they will grow up to make informed grocery choices and strengthen their local economies. Start a farm-to-school project in your school district; all the know how is at farmtoschool.org

Eat for the Environment

Cutting back on meat consumption is good for the environment, your health, and your wallet. Producing one pound of beef puts as much carbon dioxide into the environment as driving a typical car 70 miles! Read “Livestock’s Long Shadow,” the 2006 UN paper about the effects of the meat industry on the environment and human populations, at fao.org/docrep/010/a0701e00.HTM

Be a Freecycler

For me, the coolest of the online free resource sites is Freecycle (freecycle.org). The Freecycle Network initiation started in Tucson in 2003, when Deron Beal sent out the first email to 30 or so friends and local nonprofits letting them know about the items he had to give away. Freecycle now has 4,738 groups worldwide and an amazing 6,690,000 members. Just think about how many wonderful free treasures have changed hands and the sheer tonnage saved from landfill. Bravo, Mr Beal!

Freecycle’s mission is to save good stuff from the landfill, promote environmental sustainability, and imbue life with the spirit of generosity, creating stronger local communities in the process.

The steps to join a Freecycle group are straightforward. If there isn’t a group in your area yet, you can start one. Once you have joined your local group, you can begin to post messages for what you want and what you have to offer. Freecycle is administered by volunteers and has the advantage of not needing a physical location-Freecycle’s easy-to-use listing website makes it nearly effortless to use. Some posts are for significant items such as computers, bicycles, televisions, stereos, and even cars. Offering your surplus and finding what you need for free are both gratifying experiences, and ultimately, they alleviate a lot of stress on our precious planet.

Go Solar

Solar ovens are inexpensive and easy to use, and you’ll cook for free every time you use one. Since it doesn’t require electricity, fossil fuels, or propane, a solar oven is perfect for your emergency supply kit. They also pasteurize water for drinking. Check out solarovens.org to see the great work this nonprofit is doing with solar ovens in developing countries. Go solar and really worship the sun.

Calling All Cat Cuddlers

Yes, there is such a thing as ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) Day. Consider rescuing an animal from a shelter, and if you can’t do that, volunteer at your local animal shelter as a dog walker, cat cuddler, or whatever else they need. Most of my friends who adopt a pet are at least 200% happier thanks to their new family member. 

Participate in the Gift Economy

Free markets are one of the ways that people have figured out how to cooperate when finances are uncertain. It is one of my absolute favorite examples of a gift economy, where people come together with items to give away or share. The Really Really Free Market (reallyreallyfree.org) is a great prototype. No money exchanges hands. Participants simply bring their offerings and display them communally.

People also bring their expertise and talents to share: lawyers, musicians, jugglers, gardeners, ecologists, hairdressers, tarot readers, and cookie bakers are all there enjoying this unique marketplace. It provides as much diversity as the market economy, and for free!

The Really Really Free Market website lists 34 regular free markets happening in states across the US and another ten or so worldwide in places like Pertgh, Australia. Your city could be next.

And don’t Forget the Senseless Acts of Beauty!

Ann Herbert, the poet artist who inspired Random Acts of Kindness, also implored us to add prettiness to the world. There are so many ways to do this: plant flowers, pick up trash, or paint a lovely mural for the entire neighborhood’s pleasure.

What beauty can you bring to the world?

Be a Fixer-Upper (Plus Weeding is Good Therapy)

Assist seniors near you with tasks like raking, shoveling, or doing minor home repairs through Volunteers of America’s Safety of Seniors Handyman Program (voa.org). I pull my 98- year-old neighbor’s weeds and it is a good exercise for me, it benefits the neighborhood, and she appreciates the weekly attention she and her yard enjoy!

Have a Mission and Live By It

Tucker Hiatt, one of the Bay Area’s most beloved teachers, has been running Wonderfest- a nonprofit science education program-with his own and donated funds since 1997 (Wonderfest.org). The mission is based on the insight, inspired by Voltaire, that “societies will continue to make mistakes as long as long as they continue to misunderstand how the world works. When people comprehend nature and each other, through science, they make smarter decisions about virtually everything: personal and social relationships (psychology), our environment (biology and chemistry), and technology (physics).” Wonderfest promotes the scientific outlook so that mistakes-even atrocities-are gradually relegated to history. Since retiring from teaching, Tucker has devoted himself full time to bringing science to the public in non-school settings. Whenever I’m at an event with him I meet former students of his who have become physicists, engineers, professors-and still talk about how influential he was to them. Now his mission is to expose those of us who didn’t get to have him as a teacher (my words, not his!) to that same sense of inspiration.

  Some cool things Tucker and his organization have accomplished:

*Wonderfest has presented hundreds of free (or nearly free) science events for the general public-young and old.

*Wonderfest ran a high school team science competition that gave students $70,000 in prizes and scholarships.

*Wonderfest has rewarded local, public-spirited scientists with $45,000 with it’s Sagan Prize

Make Beautiful Music

If you’re a musician living in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Nashville, or Miami, you can volunteer through the nonprofit Musicians on Call (musiciansoncall.org) to deliver live, in-room performances to patients undergoing treatment or unable to leave their beds. Add a dose of joy to a healthcare facility by bringing the healing power of music to people who need it.

No Strings Attached

Write down the things that someone has given you, no strings attached, for which you are grateful. It can be an old sofa, some sound advice, or a lift to the airport. Now list ten things that you would like to give someone yourself, and see how many of those things you can cross off in a week.

Examples:

*Drive a friend to the airport

*Carry groceries for an elder to their car

*Babysit for a relative

*Buy a friend a cup of coffee

*Volunteer at a soup kitchen

No Foolin’

I don’t know the history of April Fool’s Day trickster antics but they always make me cringe. I suggest a “reverse prank” instead, where you do something really nice.  Heard through the Random Acts of Kindness network about a good deeder buying lottery tickets, adding a sweet little note, and placing them onto a car door where they could not be missed. Can you imagine if you were the recipient of this delightful act and won the big Scratch Off for a cool million or so?

Have fun and bring some joy into this early spring day. It may be April Fool’s Day but don’t fool yourself! Today is about laughter rather than pulling pranks on others. Tell your coworkers a joke you enjoy; find a way to make someone who looks unhappy put a smile on their face.