Hip-hip Hooray! This Saturday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. I don’t think of myself as a tree-hugging hippy, but I value the Earth and its natural resources. Earth Day reminds us of our planet’s importance and that we must take care of it. The actions of humans are the cause of environmental issues. We are the problem, and we need to be the solution. Instead of looking at all the damage we have caused, let’s look at what we can do to slow, minimize or reverse some of the destruction.
Here are a few ways my household has tried to live more sustainably in the past year. Composting has proven tremendously easy and highly beneficial. For a nominal monthly fee, the “Compost Queen” exchanges our bucketful of food scrapes weekly for an empty container. The environmental payoffs are impressive (https://compostqueenfc.com/compost-tracker/). I’m also looking forward to seeing what the organic soil I receive in return will do for my garden. Utilizing insulated metal water bottles instead of plastic bottles is an effortless way we have committed to improving the planet. On average, a family of four uses 624 plastic bottles a year. The most unfortunate part is 91% of plastics are not recyclable.
Many retailers around the country are no longer offering plastic bags. Instead, they are implementing a fee for paper bags if you don’t bring in your own container. The effect causes people to be more conscientious with their choices and invest in the planet’s health. There’s no shortage of ways humans have unintentionally harmed Earth, but it isn’t difficult for us to choose methods to counter-act our destructiveness. (https://www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/)
I’m not a tree-hugging hippy, and you don’t have to be either, but we do need to take responsibility for the care of Earth every day, not just on Earth Day.
