Earth Day Needs To Be Every Day

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For 52 years, we have designated one day in April to clean up the planet and teach people how to be better stewards of the earth. Now we need to do this 52 weeks out of the year since we live in a society where you have to go out of your way to reduce the impact of waste. 

• It’s not easy to avoid packaging. 
• Recycling is difficult when it’s hard to figure out what to do and how to do it.

The sad reality is we’ve reached the point where every one of us needs to be doing more, a whole lot more! We need to change the way we live. Not just one day out of the year, but every day.

We can’t give up our fight for the One Planet we have.

This Earth Day, I challenge you to look for ways to change how you regularly do stuff, not just one day out of the year. Take a few minutes to look through some of the sites below and find ways you can take action.
When you run across a tip and think, “I could do that,” write down how you plan to get it done. Be specific, like, add reusable shopping bags to my grocery list, as an action you can take to build your reusable bag habit. Make it a note you put on your frig, or wherever you’ll see it regularly. After you’ve developed one habit, start working on another.

Take it one step at a time. Change can be hard. Let’s start now and make the changes we know we can make.

• EarthDay.org put together these tool kits to help us make changes and take actions that can make an ongoing difference. Visit the link to find tools for 
  • battling global waste, 
  • fighting plastics pollution, 
  • educational tools, 
  • how to avoid fast fashion,
  • and more.
• Participate in Earth Hour on March 26th at 8:30 pm your local time. This annual event is targeted at slowing down our energy use. Beyond saving energy one day a year, they provide resources and tips for what you can do to build everyday habits that matter.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead (1901-1978), American cultural anthropologist

• Become a voice for the planet. Start your own grassroots effort to tackle climate change. This article on How Plastics Broke Recycling and Why Grassroots Efforts Can Fit It has links at the end to 11 online resources for building a planet friendly community through grassroots efforts.
• The Jump covers the six shifts individuals need to make in order to stop climate change. Based on scientific research into what has to change over the next decade, this site shares the six actions we can and must take if we are to have a chance.
• The 31 Day Zero Waste Challenge from Going Zero Waste will send you daily tips of actions you can take to reduce your impact on the planet.
• One Planet has an app where you can set goals for reducing your carbon emissions. Download the One Planet.life app and explore how to make carbon reduction happen in your life.

Let’s make every day Earth Day!

Why It’s Important

Earth Day Means So Much More Now That Our Planet Is In Crisis

On April 22, 1970 the first Earth Day was celebrated as people began to recognize the need to take better care of the planet. Though these efforts were always important, our disposable lifestyle continued to grow. 

We’ve now developed habits that require us to make planet-friendly changes to how we live daily. We have no other choice. The dangers have become a lot worse. I keep hearing the phrase Tipping Points for the climate and it’s scary to think of not being able to reverse some of the damage humans have done. Increased weather disasters and lack of resources are just the beginning signs of how forced changes are starting to happen.

• Flooding and natural disasters will continue to rise, making less areas habitable and decreasing resources for food and water.
• Communities need to build local resources as those around the globe begin to deplete.
• As polar ice caps melt we lose the gulf stream. This will cause less rain in places like the amazons which will lead to more fires and flooding. 

There are so many reasons we need to make lifestyle changes. I’m not going to keep listing them. I hope you see the importance of checking out the resources above and thinking of ways you can contribute to helping the planet.

With Much Gratitude

That’s it for this week. I hope this helped. Please drop me a line anytime if you have questions or comments. I love hearing from you.

If you filled out my recycling survey and included a question, I will likely respond soon (if I haven’t already). There have been a lot of good questions and I want to give each my attention. I also may include them in future posts. I will also be sharing the survey results in the future, so stick with me to learn how the survey does. 

Note: Along with a number of very hard-working people, I’m waging an all-out war. A fight for our planet. Please join me and consider supporting my efforts. I do not get paid to write this blog, none of the products I recommend sponsor me, so any support you can send my way would help, even just a few bucks.

Thank you for reading these tips and subscribing. Pat yourself on the back for doing your part. Remember, every little bit helps. Don’t fuss if you aren’t always able to do this stuff, keep trying, and don’t give up. It usually takes about 21 days to build a habit. 

You got this!

All my best, 

Jen 

jen.thilman (at) gmail.com