Earth Day 2023 is on Saturday, April 22. This special day is always full of environmental awareness and projects that remind us what it means to truly care for the planet. It’s a great day to get involved and do something small that can make a big impact.
But then Earth Day ends, and it’s another year before it rolls around again. Maybe, as time goes by, you lose sight of how empowered you felt doing something good for the planet. It can feel harder to find opportunities without having a day to focus on, but it’s not impossible to carry Earth Day forward.
It is possible to make time for the planet even when it’s not April 22, and it’s easier to do than you may think.
If you need some inspiration to keep celebrating Earth Day each and every day, check out one or more of these suggestions.
Get involved
Earth Day brings out many local organizations that help the environment all year long. Joining one is a great way to stay involved even when Earth Day ends.
Find an organization that focuses on a part of the environment that interests you, that has regular events and that’s conveniently located, and give it a year-long commitment. You’ll be surprised at how easy it can be to stay committed to doing that little bit extra for the planet.
Some local organizations to check out include:
- Environment Connecticut
- Sustainable Connecticut
- Mass Audubon
- Massachusetts Woodlands Institute
- Alliance for a Living Ocean (NJ)
- New Jersey Forestry Association
- GrowNYC
- Bronx River Alliance
- Save the Lakes (RI)
- Rhode Island Plant Society
These organizations are just the very start of a long list of opportunities across New York State, New Jersey and all of New England.
Plant a tree
A typical hardwood tree can absorb up to 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere each year. Over the course of its lifetime, that can reduce up to one ton of CO2 that our cars, other vehicles, and machines emit as they work.
Planting a sapling may not feel like you’re doing much, but you’re starting the process for yet another tree to have a long life, extracting CO2 out of the air for good. What a tree takes in never goes back out.
This tree can also, eventually, provide shade on a hot, sunny day. It may give a home to a few animals who were already in the area, improving the ecosystem. It’s a long-term addition to your own landscape that has myriad benefits.
If you don’t have enough space to add a tree, don’t worry, you can still make a lasting impact on your own, immediate environment. Consider planting a small vegetable garden, and take the farm-to-table philosophy to heart when it comes to some of your favorite produce. Growing your own ingredients not only means you know exactly where your food comes from, but that it was grown with the smallest carbon footprint possible.
Put less into the trash
Recycling and reusing are often major themes on Earth Day, but they’re also easy initiatives to continue throughout the year. Having a goal to put less into the trash, either by recycling or composting, is a great way to step up your environmental game. It can also be something easily forgotten as we hurry through our daily lives, so make sure you have a plan to keep it at the front of your family’s mind.
One great way is to make a list of recyclable items and tape it on or beside your garbage can. That way, before anyone tosses anything into the trash, they’ll have to check if it goes into the recycle bin instead.
When it comes to composting, there’s a long list of items you can compost and keep out of your trash. Most, but not all, are food items, so consider keeping a list of what belongs in your new compost bin on the fridge so your family can consult it as they’re cooking or preparing food.
Remind yourself of the value of nature
One of the best ways to stay aware of the part you play in protecting the environment is to spend time in it. The more you walk or hike through parks, nature trails or even your own neighborhood, the more attached you’ll become to protecting it, and the more often you’ll want to join in when it comes to maintaining it.
For a bonus, each time you go out walking or hiking, bring a garbage bag with you to collect litter as you go. Your regular bits of exercise will also suddenly become an environmentally-friendly pursuit.
Drive a little differently
It’s no secret that cars are pretty strong polluters of our air. Their emissions release CO2, and the trees can’t capture it all. Instead, an Earth Day-like goal you can make every day is to do a little something to reduce your car’s carbon footprint.
This can mean remembering to turn your car off when waiting in carpool lines, drive thru lines or for a curbside pick up to be delivered to your car. It can mean walking into a store or fast food restaurant instead of driving through. It can also mean looking at your daily errand list and figuring out the most efficient way to check everything off, so you’re driving as little as possible.
Another option is to fuel up in a way that offsets your car’s carbon footprint. This is often done by finding a company, like Stop & Shop, that offers an offsetting program automatically with your gas purchase.
With Stop & Shop Restore, each time you fill up with high-quality Stop & Shop fuel, up to 30 percent of your car’s carbon emissions are offset through the investment in carbon reduction projects. You don’t have to do anything other than be particular about where you choose to get gas.
This is perhaps one of the easiest ways to keep Earth Day going all year long. You’ll always need gas, and you’re helping the planet simply by buying it from a place that’s already doing good.
Do a little each day to keep Earth Day going all year
With a little planning, it’s easy to keep the inspiration you may feel on Earth Day going all year round. Thanks to all the little things you can do to support a cleaner planet, it’s never out of your reach to keep an eye on the environment and work to make the world a little better each and every day.