6 Easy Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
Keeping Our Planet Healthy & Green Throughout April & Beyond
Going green on Earth Day, and giving our planet a little tender loving care, is easier than you think! These environmental activities are easy, quick, and inexpensive.
Earth Day is the world’s largest grassroots environmental event. Earth Week 2008 runs the week April 21-25, and focuses on combating pollution and lessening environmental degradation. The month of April is known as Earth Month.
Easy Ways to Celebrate Earth Day
1. Grow an Eco-Mentor. The Earth Day Canada website defines eco-mentors as “high school volunteers who receive training and support to deliver environmental education lesson plans in elementary schools.” If you have a green-minded teen, consider enrolling him or her in an eco-mentor program. This one action on Earth Day could have a ripple effect in your community or city.
2. Find your own Eco-Mentor. Create your own informal version of the eco-mentoring program. Do you have a neighbor, coworker, or family member who makes green living not just a priority, but a passion? Find out what they do, why they do it, and how you can incorporate their environmentally friendly living tips into your own life. You don’t have to go organic full force or buy hemp clothes. To celebrate Earth Day, just talk to people who love to live green.
3. Talk to your colleagues. What is your organization doing to celebrate Earth Day? What happened last year, and can you build on it? If your workplace doesn’t have formal plans to say Happy Birthday to our planet, make it a point to bring it up in your conversations throughout the day. Talking about various Earth Day events and activities is the first step to actually implementing them. Earth Day 2009 will be here before you know it – and these conversations now could start the ball rolling to more involved events next year.
4. Contact your child’s school. Most schools will have their own Earth Day activities. Find out what events are planned, and piggy back on those. For instance, if the school is planting a garden, then you could make plans for your own garden at home. If your children made a special “Happy Birthday to the Earth!” project, ask them to show you how they did it. Ask your kids to explain the significance of their green activities. You may learn a lot about the history of Earth Day.
5. Google the Earth Day activities in your area. Your local community center, library, or public school may have some fun Earth Day activities planned. For instance, in British Columbia there are Earth Day Garden Shows, Earth Day Eco-Fairs, Earth Day Celebrations, and even a “Community Broom Bash” (a public event to remove Scotch Broom, an invasive species on Mayne Island, BC).
6. Volunteer for an Earth Day event. Say Happy Birthday to our planet by volunteering on Earth Day. Call the organization sponsoring the event or the volunteer coordinator, and ask how you and your family can help. Volunteering for environmental nonprofit organizations and events is an effective and easy way to celebrate Earth Day – and it could last all year long!
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