Earth Day Every Day!

Earth Day is looming, and like every year I am scrambling around trying to decide on the perfect gift for our Mother Earth. I have grand dreams of volunteering at Mt. Pisgah, or helping weed a local community garden, and though my intentions are good, I will instead get off work at 5 p.m. drive home in my car (yes, my car not a bike or bus) and read online about all of the great things people have done all day while I was at work. Then the next day everyone I know is going to ask me what I did to make a difference, and the truth will be that I did not do squat to lessen my carbon imprint, but I will lie and say I saved a slug from being hit by a car or I used my pogo stick to get to work.

Earth Day is similar to Valentines Day as far as the guilt factor goes. I feel pressured to show my appreciation in some elaborate way even though I do little things every day to show that I care. Why do humans enjoy designating a single day to prove our love, to make a difference, to celebrate life, to act like kids? Shouldn't we be encouraging people to do these things every day instead of one day a year? That is why I choose to not celebrate Valentines Day, and why I had Halloween for Christmas. Yes, I realize this all might sound cynical considering nothing bad can come from people doing good deeds for the planet, but I really believe that every day is Earth Day and we should all make life changes that go along with that.

Here are five tips for making every day Earth Day:

1.) Eat Responsibly: This means being aware of every food purchase. You should be trying to buy local as much as possible to lessen the carbon impact and to hopefully support smaller businesses and your local economy. If you can't buy local, you should at least try to buy from a company that is in your time zone. You should also try and buy organically when possible and from smaller companies. You can't go wrong if you buy your food from a farmer's market.
2.) Cut Out the Fat: Meat is yummy and sometimes the animal in me just wants to nibble on a medium rare steak, but the truth is eating and raising livestock on a large scale is causing more damage to the environment than our gas gussling vehicles. This is going to require a big life change, but believe me you will survive and you are doing humanity and the environment a big favor. (Check out my last blog to find out more reasons to cut out meat!)
3.) The Yellow Rule: It might sound old fashioned, but the yellow mellow rule totally makes sense and will save you money and gallons of water usage.
4.) Keep it Cool: My house is always set at around 63 degrees. This makes for a cold winter, but it cuts down on my electricity consumption and eventually you get use to wearing a hat and scarf in the house.
5.) Compost it: Composting is one of the most wonderful things you can do for yourself and the planet. I love knowing that I have little to no food waste, and with composting and recycling I can go a few weeks before I fill an entire trash bin. I am so into composting that I have a small worm compost that sits on my deck and a large compost bin in my front yard. Once you begin composting it becomes a healthy addiction.