How To Celebrate Earth Day At Home

Earth day is a wonderful celebration of mother nature herself. A day that inspires interest in tree planting and hiking and conservation efforts. A day that lends itself so well to being outdoors. Unfortunately, like many other celebrations around the world, Earth Day 2020 has landed in midst of a social distancing period. Volunteering to plant trees with an organization, heading out to (possibly) crowded hiking trails or even heading out to have a day at the beach, can all be challenging or even impossible acts during this period of quarantine. Don’t let this get you down! Definitely don’t let it keep you from celebrating mother nature, in all her glory. We have some tips and tricks for getting into the Earth Day spirit, from the safety of your own home!

Compost Your Food Scrapes

Do you throw your food scraps into the garbage can? Do you often feel wasteful about it? That’s okay, most of us do. BUT…you don’t have to! Composting food scraps is a wonderful way to save waste and repurpose, right from your kitchen.

You can purchase a composting bin for your back yard or patio. This is a great option for anyone who has a garden or even anyone who just has the space (maybe it will inspire you to plant a garden)! Composting on your own will require dirt and worms and insects and the extra effort to get your hands a little dirty. You will also need a small bin to keep in your kitchen, to hold your food scraps, before they get deposited into your compost bin in the yard.

Don’t have the space or time for a compost bin out in your yard? You can also keep a small compost bin in your kitchen, under the sink or in the freezer (contains the smell better). Once your bin is full, take it to a local community compost drop off. You can search for a drop off location that is close and convenient for you.

Welcome Creatures Into Your Yard

With the ever-increasing construction and expansion of manmade buildings and roads, animals and insects get pushed out of their homes and out of save environments. Some people shoo these creatures off of their property. Consider welcoming these friends into your yard, in order to give them a safe space to escape the crazy human roadways and populated city scape.

Do you have a birdhouse? No? Building a bird house and installing a bird feeder could be the perfect Earth Day project for you!

Do you keep a perfectly mowed lawn? Consider leaving a portion of your lawn un-mowed, for bees and butterflies and insects to thrive.

You can also go organic with your lawn and garden – Getting rid of pests the old-fashioned way can actually be more effective than using pesticides. Try planting native plants to control the insect population. Use water to spray common insects like aphids off of your vegetable plants.
When it comes to weeds, pulling them out by hand works better than any other method.

Plant A Garden

Don’t have a garden, yet? Starting a backyard garden can be the perfect way to celebrate Earth Day. Even starting with a few small plants is worth the effort. Use a lot of herbs when you cook? Planting your own herbs keeps them readily available and on hand, while also preventing you from purchasing plastic packaged herbs from the grocery store.

Go For a Neighborhood Walk

Although social distancing calls for (mostly) staying at home, going for a daily neighborhood walk is not only permitted, but encouraged! Just make sure you keep a 6ft distance from neighbors who may cross your path. On this particular day, try to be more present on your walk. Pay attention to the plant life in your neighborhood and focus on which types of plants or insects or birds catch your eye. Sometimes, appreciating the little things gets overlooked on a day to day basis. Earth Day reminds us that even a simple flower can bring us a moment of beauty.

Another great way to pay respect to mother nature on your walk is to pick up litter along the way. You can buy a litter picker on the internet and use compostable trash bags. Bring these tools on your walk and clean up your neighborhood. You can also use gloves, but a picker is recommended.

Increase Sustainability at Home

There are so many ways that we can reduce our waste and in turn, do mother nature a favor. Take a hard look at your household habits and evaluate some ways that you can reduce your waste. Here are a few ideas to start:

        -Go paperless with your billing. So many statements are available via online accounts. Switch over and save tons of paper waste!
        -Switch your household lightbulbs to LED and be more energy efficient.
        -Invest in a water filtration system or a simple Britta filter for your home and stop supporting single use plastic water bottles.
        -Make the swap to cloth rags instead of single use paper towels.
        -Invest in reusable zip lock and food storage containers and then ditch disposable Ziplock baggies.
        -Buy more glass and less plastic at the grocery store. Purchase cloth produce bags, in order to avoid plastic produce bags at the grocery store. Buy in the bulk section whenever possible (dried beans instead of canned beans, etc). Always bring your reusable tote bags to bag your groceries!

Breath Fresh Air and Smile

There are so many more ways to pay tribute to mother nature on Earth Day but we hope that a few of these options have inspired you. All in all, don’t let the quarantine discourage you from celebrating our Earth this April. Get out there and breath some fresh air, even if that’s just out in your front yard. Of course, don’t forget to smile!