Author: Darcy Raven
Today, April 22nd is Earth Day, so Happy Earth day to everyone. It is great to have a designated day to celebrate Earth and Mother Nature, but hopefully this celebration continues every day of the year. There is no question that humans can do a part to help the world we live in. However, with the plethora of ways to help our environment, it can be just as easy to feel overwhelmed by all the options and rules that come with making this world a better place as it is to help.
Here are some ways to help the environment: you can use reusable bags, reusable beverage containers, or reusable straws. You can recycle, reuse, and compost. You can use less water and less electricity by using low energy LED light bulbs, carpooling, walking, riding a bike, scootering, or taking public transportation. You can plant trees, have a garden, grow your own vegetables, buy local or second hand, buy in bulk, love your leftovers, go paperless, get and pay bills online, use rechargeable batteries, use matches or refillable lighters instead of disposable lighters, use non-toxic cleaning supplies, eat vegetarian or go vegan, volunteer to pick up trash or donate to an organization. And that is just a few brief ways you can make the world a better place.
Lastly I have two tips that I use daily that you might find helpful. Recycle and Compost. Of course there are a ton of other ways to help your environment but recycling and composting are the easiest and biggest ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
Even if you're not recycling every little piece, something as simple as just recycling your aluminum cans, glass, and plastics can make a huge difference. These three items are very important to recycle because they are the top items that can be reused and made into other things. And to assist you in recycling, I highly recommend purchasing clear recyclable bags. I use these bags: Hefty Recycling Trash Bags, Clear 13 gallon, 60 count. They are sturdy and easily acquired through Amazon. Clear transparent bags like these make visual identification easy in your kitchen, on the curb and at the recycling center. And since you can see all the items in the bag then it is far more likely that those items will get to the right place to be recycled.
Another must is composting! Invest in compost bags. I like these from amazon: UNNI ASTM D6400 100% Compostable Trash Bags, 2.6 Gallon, 100 count, Extra Thick 0.71 Mils. There are a ton of sizes to suit your every composting need. And forget those pesky run-of-the-mill compost buckets. They are horrible. Instead buy one of these: H+LUX Round Mini Trash Can with Lid Soft Close and Removable Inner Wastebasket, Anti-Fingerprint Brushed Stainless Steel Garbage Can. Yes, this isn’t a traditional compost bucket, but I use one and it is fabulous! It is better than any compost bucket out there. It’s a hands free, air tight way to store your compost till it’s ready to go out and thrown away in your green bin.
In a perfect world I would love to say that every year on Earth Day I revise my list of how I can help the environment. But I don’t. Instead I just took the time to remind myself that the earth is one of a kind and it needs to be taken care of. And just like earth, everyone is a one of a kind human, so I want to remind everyone there isn’t a right way or wrong way to help the environment as long as you make some effort to reduce your carbon footprint