A Fantastic Warm-Up Act

Warm Up America (warmupamerica.org) works with community service organizations and the American Red Cross to distribute warm, handmade blankets to a local organization (or a local chapter of a national organization) near where they live or work. My family collects old blankets and my mom’s best friend is a master quilter who can make a gorgeous patchwork blanket that would keep anyone quite cozy for years to come. Staying warm can be a beautiful thing!

A Golden Ticket

Not many things will ruin your day quite like getting pulled over by the police. But when police in Lowell, Michigan, recently stopped 50 drivers for minor violations, the surprised motorists wound up getting their Christmas wishes instead of traffic tickets. Officer Scot VanSolkema chatted with the not-so-happy drivers, asking what they or their kids wanted for Christmas. Unbeknownst to anyone else, his buddies waited in a nearby shop, listening via radio before rushing to buy, wrap, and deliver whatever the drivers had named, including toys, an Xbox, and a high-definition TV. Said one happy driver: “This just turned my bad day into a good one.”

Simple Acts of Goodness

    Get acquainted with the power of simple human kindness and easy acts of goodness every day. When at the grocery store, return the shopping cart or help the elderly man struggling with his bags. Open doors for people. Say “Hello” with a smile. Every day and in every way choose to take the high road in your travels. The view is much more beautiful from up top!

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!”

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!

Be a Good in Your Hood

    Pick up and recycle or compost loose garbage as you walk. Sidewalks are meant for safe walking, not weaving through someone else’s abandoned bottles and crumpled up take-out bags. Take pride in the area you live and help contribute to keeping it clean and safe. One person helping can inspire many others to do the same. I vowed to do this 15 years ago while living in the Lower Haight in San Francisco. By the end of each week, I usually had a big bag to take to the HANC recycling Center. In the last couple of years, I have gotten some puzzled glances and even laughter when I am dressed up for a meeting while walking down the street and picking up garbage, empty bottles, and what-have-you. I will occasionally say, “This is my service to the earth. Recycling is my religion.” And it is. I have the planet’s back!

Love and Lattes

    Leave a tip and a little thank-you note in the tip jar at your favorite coffee or ice cream shop. Many of us remember the days when we had to work retail or hospitality while in high school or college. The staff is working hard, so show your appreciation for your latte and their positive attitude with a dollar or two. I have put in little “good job” notes in the tip jar at my local Peet’s Coffee & Tea. I think good work should be acknowledged and people should know they are appreciated (and so should their boss!). I have made lifelong friends at the two Peet’s I have frequented and it is nice to see them across the counter every morning. Those relationships all began with four little words: “How are you today?”

A Fantastic Warm-Up Act

    Warm Up America (warmupamerica.org) works with community service organizations and the American Red Cross to distribute warm, handmade blankets to a local organization (or a local chapter of a national organization) near where they live or work. My family collects old blankets and my mom’s best friend is a master quilter who can make a gorgeous patchwork blanket that would keep anyone quite cozy for years to come. Staying warm can be a beautiful thing!

Become a Modern Digger

    There is plenty of free stuff to be found in every community. Urban foraging, or dumpster diving, has become very popular in the last few decades. Well-known proponents of the movement include Food Not Bombs, which began feeding the hungry with salvaged food 30 years ago; and I first heard about The Diggers when I was interviewing the great poets Diane di Prima and Janine Pommy Vega for Women of the Beat Generation. 

    The Diggers, who came together in the sixties in San Francisco, regularly fed around 200 people a day on donated and foraged food. They also ran free shops, threw free parties, and started a free medical clinic. 

    Some contemporary urban foragers call themselves Freegans (a composite of free and vegan) and pride themselves on their recycling prowess. The Freegan mission is to live with minimal consumption of resources and limited involvement in the mechanisms of the conventional economy. If you fancy learning the skills necessary for successful dumpster diving, Freegans (freegan.info) are the people to contact. Active groups are listed, and some organize trash tours where they instruct newcomers on how to scavenge safely. The basic rules are common sense: forage with at least one other person, always thoroughly check food when you get home and wash as needed before eating anything, and don’t leave a big mess at the scene- the rodents will love you, but the store owners won’t!

Mother Ocean Day

    Look into volunteering to clean up your local beach. With pollution in our water and in the sand, help make these local hot spots safer for future visitors to the beach and the environment! If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, check out All One Ocean to see when you can help: alloneocean.org/community-meeting-beach-clean-up. 

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 22nd 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 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!

Be a Good in Your Hood

    Pick up and recycle or compost loose garbage as you walk. Sidewalks are meant for safe walking, not weaving through someone else's abandoned bottles and crumpled up take-out bags. Take pride in the area you live and help contribute to keeping it clean and safe. One person helping can win-ire many others to do the same. I vowed to do this 15 yeas ago while living in the Lower Haight in San Francisco. By the end of each week, I usually had a big bag to take to the HANC recycling Center. In the last couple of years, I had gotten some puzzled glances and even laughter when I am dressed up for a meeting while walking down the street and picking up garbage, empty bottles, and have-you-not. I will occasionally say, "This is my service to the earth. Recycling is my religion." And it is. I have the planet's back!

Gaggles for Good

Plan an outing with a group of friends that will positively impact society. Instead of just going to the movies again, gang up for the good of all. Together, plant a community garden, help clean up a schoolyard, or volunteer for a nonprofit organization.



In the San Fransisco Bay Area, there are regular beach clean-up efforts and it is enormously rewarding to see the unmarred beauty beneath the trash. Find your local chapter of "Heal the Bay," and get a little sun, sand, and healing for you, your friends and the closest coast.