Happy Earth Day!
I’m 53 years old. The Environmental Protection Agency is only one month older than me. I was basically born into a world in which there were no rules against dumping toxic chemicals into our streams and lakes. Companies could send toxins into the air without a second thought. There was no oversight or legal recourse. Then there was the very first Earth Day in the Spring of 1970 and the EPA was created in December 1970.
We’ve made progress and we should be very proud of that, but we need to make more progress. Some days fixing the earth is a completely overwhelming and depressing topic that shuts me down in my tracks. I mean, seriously, how the hell is anything I do going to cool the earth and save the monarchs or convince idiots that killing all the wildlife and insects isn’t in their best interest. Then I remember that little things do matter and I have lots of little things I can do every day. So, I pull myself out of my eco-depression, put on my imaginary cap, and off I go to save the world. And by “world” I mean my 5 little acres.
Don’t you get overwhelmed either. There is stuff that you can do EVERY DAY that will make a difference.
Recyle and recycle right. Recycle! Recycle! Recycle! But beware: non-recyclable items in the recycling stream can contaminate an entire load of materials. Contact your local solid waste agency or garbage hauler for more information.
Reuse Items. That glass mayo jar is perfect for loose screws. Cut your use of single-use plastic by carrying a reusable water bottle and brining your own reusable shopping bags. Cardboard and woodchips are perfect for the paths between your garden beds to keep down weeds and hold moisture in.
Eat locally grown food. It’ll taste better and will be better for you. Less travel means less greenhouse gases. If you eat meat, the livestock is more likely to have been raised and slaughtered humanely. I always feel better knowing I’m supporting a local family farmer/neighbor and not big ag conglomerate that only cares about quarterly earnings.
Be water smart. There is no reason to run the water when you’re brushing your teeth and only run full loads of laundry and dishes. Collect rainwater to use in your garden. Use mulch to keep the moisture in the soil. If you live in an urban area with lots of blacktop and concrete, do you have room for a rain garden?
Limit your use of chemicals.
Indoors. You don’t need expensive cleaners that are full of chemicals to keep your house clean. A vinegar and water solution is amazing and vinegar is a natural disinfectant that removes odors! Who knew?! (spoiler alert: your grandmother!). Another good cleaning options is castile soap. Best part is you can make your own cleaning solutions at home and reuse some of those old squirt bottles you have under the sink.
Outdoors. I know a lot of people don’t like bugs, but guess what? We need them! They are an irreplaceable food source for birds, bats, fish, frogs, and other insectivores. You also need them too because without pollinators a lot of the food you like would disappear. How sad it would be not to have fat-butted bumble bees, flittering fireflies, and flutter-by butterflies. Most gardeners have an appreciation for bugs, but not all bugs. No one likes Japanese Beetles. I’m here to tell you that you don’t need the sh*t that the chemical companies want to sell you. There are so many better options: natural Pesticides, companion planting, beneficial insects, and others.
Finally, some of my personal favorite sustainable consumerism is
Need to get ride of some old clothes? H&M will take all fabrics and in return will give you a coupon for 15% off of a shopping trip.
Want to compost, but hate composting? Lomi is a countertop composter that will deal with your food scraps and help you limit your greenhouse gas emissions. Rotting food in a landfill produces methane gas. Food scraps converted to a great soil amendment by my Lomi seems a much better, no-brainer option.
Single use plastic and chemicals are selfish. There, I said it! My two favorite ways to limit both are O3 Waterworks Smart Laundry System and Blueland. For my laundry I’ve embraced Borax (again, ask your grandmother) and the O3 Waterworks Smart Laundry System that turns water into an oxidizing solution to clean clothes. For other cleaning, when vinegar and water won’t cut it, I use Blueland products for my cleaning needs from foaming hand soap and shower gel to toilet bowl cleaner and dish soap.
The earth does not belong to us. We belong to the earth.
We need to be gentle with her and leave her better than we found her.
Earth Day is EVERY DAY!
Cheers!
* I am not being compensated for any of the above comments, endorsements or in relation to any sales that may link through this site. I just believe in the products and the information I’m sharing.
