Green Day

    If you are able to, walk or ride your bike to school, work, or wherever you need to go. By not using your car, you are helping to reduce greenhouse gases while burning some calories at the same time! You can also use public transit or carpool with a friend- this also gives you the golden opportunity to bond with your coworkers or get to know more about your friend.

Trees are the Lungs of Our Planet

    Have you heard about the amazingly ambitious goal of the Nature Conservatory to plant a billion trees and restore the forests of the world? From the rainforests in South America to China and even in the Arctic Circle, this hardy group of tree huggers is doing their darndest to recreate the woodlands and rainforests everywhere they can. I urge you to look at the map to see how far they are getting. It is impressive and gives me so much hope for the future.

Friends Let Friends Forage

    Plant a fruit tree. We know trees clean air by absorbing odors and pollutants while also providing oxygen and shade. And if you want to be generous, go ahead and plant a fruit tree near the fence or street. Put up a little sign that says “Help yourself!”

Hydrated and Saving the Planet

    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!

Just Say No to GMO

Buy organic heritage seedlings whenever you can. Most fruits and vegetables have an incredibly diverse range of varieties, but we typically only see one or two different kinds in the grocery store. By choosing to grow heritage plants we can preserve that diversity and give a big green thumbs down to monoculture.

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 realise 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.

Let’s Not Contribute to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

I don’t know about you, but photos of the big patch of plastic and garbage floating in the ocean scares me more than almost anything else. Nearly 90% of plastic bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. If you are used to toting around your green tea, juice, or iced coffee in plastic, get a cool-looking thermos instead. This is a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health. You can guzzle as much as you want and still be green.

Throwing Shade: Trees Are Good For Us

    Encourage community management of forests. If there are common property lands nearby you that are degraded, work with local communities and environmental NGO’s to establish sustainable community forestry that benefits everyone. Get involved at treesforthefuture.org and meet your fellow tree huggers!

Power for the Planet

    Turn off your computer at night instead of leaving it on or in sleep mode, since this wastes energy. By doing so, you can save an average of 40 watt-hours per day, which adds up to four cents a day, or $14 per year (50waystohelp.com). In addition, the life of your computer will also be extended, as the amount of available time for virus contamination will be greatly reduced. This act of conservation is a great idea you should share with your office-mates.

Save the Planet, One Tree at a Time

    Buy an artificial Christmas tree. People love my blue and silver disco tree which I got at a yard sale a few years ago. It is very festive! On average, over 30 million Christmas trees are sold in the United States each year-those are trees we could be saving and using for oxygen, housing material, and paper products rather than as decoration for a small amount of time. When you purchase an artificial tree, you will save money within the first few years and they look just as nice without the mess of pine needles! For more information on the history of the Christmas tree, go to urbanext.illinois.edu/trees/facts.cfm.

America Recycles Day

    According to 50 Ways to Help the Planet (50waystohelp.com), “Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20% and related water pollution by 50%. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose….20 recycled aluminum cans could be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one. Every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.

George Washington Liked Hemp, So Why Shouldn’t You?

    Some eco-smart Canadians created a completely cool substitute for plastic wrap called Abeego. This hemp and cotton fabric is infused with a blend of beeswax, resion, and jojoba oil. It’s flexible and able to stick to itself, and can seal bowls and wrap cheese, sandwiches, and snacks. It even looks good! Check it out for yourself at abeego.com.

Walking Your Talk (I Am a Bag Lady)

• Keep a compact, reusable bag in your purse for those spur-of-the-moment purchases.
• Refuse a plastic bag for five items or less.
• Fit purchases from different stores into the same bag wherever possible. There’s no reason to have eight shopping bags with only one item in each.
• Put your cloth bags back in your car as soon as you’re done unloading groceries. There’s less chance of forgetting them at home that way (and you’ll be one step closer to using them!). Keep them on the front seat, rather than in the trunk. If you see them, you’ll be far less likely to forget them.

More Beef = Fewer Trees

    The next time you consider grabbing a burger at a fast food place, remember this: over the past few decades, the rainforests have been disappearing to satisfy our hunger for cheap beef. Rainforests are home to over a thousand indigenous tribal groups, thousands of species of birds and butterflies and exotic animals-all of which are now endangered. Rainforests also affect rainfall and wind all around the world by absorbing solar energy for the circulation of our atmosphere. The trees provide buffers against wind damage and soil erosion, which then help prevent flooding along our coastlines. They are a precious part of our ecosystem. Let’s all do something to protect them. 

    Over five million acres of South and Central American rainforests are cleared each year for cattle to graze on. The local people don’t eat this much meat-it is exported to make the one dollar hamburger and a cheap barbecue meal.

Take Care of the Planet

    Each year, the National Environmental Education Foundation coordinates hundreds of events around the country on Public Lands Day. Volunteers are recruited to improve public parks and wildlife refuges by removing trash, planting trees, and doing other earth-friendly activities. Visit their website to find a service day near you: publiclandsday.org.

How You Can Spare the Air

Here are some things that you can do starting today:

• Support our scientists by letting our elected officials know we need fossil fuel alternatives-wind power, solar power, and wave power.
• Choose more Earth-friendly transport, which also reduces smog-causing emissions.
• Recycle, conserve energy, and support the work of Environmental Defense and other environmental organizations.
• Go to environmentaldefense.org and get involved.
  

Lighten the Load on Our Environment

    Laundry can be a costly business, both financially and environmentally. Expensive conventional detergents and laundry aids are mostly derived from petroleum and often contain chemical fragrances and phosphates, which are known to deplete water of oxygen. This has devastating effects on fish-they basically starve and die. Eco-alternatives are much cheaper, just as effective, and so much better for our world. 

    At the store, look for phosphate-free, eco-friendly laundry detergent powder. The green brands use a soap base instead of petroleum, which works just as well without the deadly chemicals. You may even find that strange allergies and discomfort goes away as you eschew heavily chemical-laden soaps.

Your Conscience Will Be Cleaner!

Save water by taking shorter showers.

Green Day

    If you are able to, walk or ride your bike to school, work, or wherever you need to go. By not using your car, you are helping to reduce greenhouse gases while burning some calories at the same time! You can also use public transit or carpool with a friend- this also gives you the golden opportunity to bond with your coworkers or get to know more about your friend.

I Think I Shall Never See Anything as Beautiful as a Tree

    I grew up in a deeply forested state, West Virginia, and was taught from childhood to know and love trees. The last time I visited, as I drove all around to see relatives in far-flung counties, I noticed huge swaths of brown amongst green. I asked what the heck was going on that seemed to be killing trees. That is how I learned about acid rain, an unfortunate by-product of coal mining, logging, and too many chemical plants. On our 300-acre farm, no trees are cut, only planted, so we are doing our part.

    In the settled part of the great prairies and western states, trees were felled to clear the land. That is, in part, being rectified by a special effort to protect trees in the last frontier. Check out americanrainforests.org to see how you can help. Oh, and start in your own yard. Got room for a couple of trees? Start digging and planting and know you will enjoy years of beauty and leave behind a legacy for generations to come from your own efforts.