18 Apr How To Celebrate Earth Day 2022: Ideas For Contributing To A Healthier Planet
Sometimes it can feel like the climate emergency facing the entire world is too overwhelming for any individual family to tackle. It’s huge – what can a single family, or just one community for that matter – do to make a real difference to our threatened planet?
As it happens, every family can do a lot.In this post, we offer ways that you and your family can mark Earth Day 2022, which arrives on April 22nd. And these ideas can be done all year round, making your contributions ongoing and increasingly more helpful. All great movements start with one great idea, and Earth Day is dedicated to the idea that, if we all do just a few simple things, the tide will change on the climate crisis facing the entire globe.
Here are some suggestions for marking Earth Day that the family can do:
1. Don’t use your vehicles.
This can be tricky, of course, if you rely on a car to get to work and your nanny drives the children to school. One way to make this doable is by forming a carpool and trading off driving duties with friends. Take turns chauffeuring the children to school, sports practice, and any other destinations they can’t get to on foot. Take the subway or bus to work on Earth Day, and you may find that because commuting to the office by public transportation is so convenient, you’ll be game for doing it more than once. Leaving the car at home even twice a week makes a big contribution to clean air, and your fuel bills will go down too. That’s a win-win for your wallet and the environment.
2. Pass on the bath and opt for good washing.
Instead of bathing your child just before bedtime, give them a good wash and skip the tub. One day without it won’t hurt, right? In a sense, this is a symbolic move rather than a potentially ongoing one because parents and nannies have to bathe children, obviously! But explaining why they are missing bath time helps them understand that every gesture, every change can help the environment. And if they are simply too young to understand the concept, you’ll know you marked Earth Day in a meaningful way.
3. Start composting.
This is one of the most helpful tools in everyone’s kit to help heal the earth. Composting food waste accomplishes several important things: it cuts down on the amount of waste that goes in the garbage, which means less trash at the curb on garbage day. Compost is fantastic fertilizer for your flower or vegetable garden. Once you start, you’ll get a better understanding of the amount of food waste your family creates, and perhaps slowly cut back on how much food you buy. Studies show that North Americans waste as much as 30 percent of the food they purchase. And that waste goes into landfills and creates methane – one of the worst toxic carbons damaging the environment.
4. Decide on one lasting change as a family.
Earth Day is the perfect opportunity for selecting one significant change the family can make together. Call a family meeting, and ask each person what they would like to do to help the environment. You could also contribute to charities that work for clean water in the developing world. Another may ask that the family gives up red meat for one month. Everyone will have different ideas, and together you can choose to do one (or all!) of them.
5. Plant a tree or an entire garden.
Do you have the space for a vegetable garden, and the commitment needed to grow your own veggies and fruit? It’s not a small undertaking, we know. But many children today are incredibly aware that transporting food from one locale to another is expensive and requires burning fossil fuels. For that reason, your teenager just might be more than willing to tackle the work a garden entails. And if a vegetable garden is out of the question, for reasons of time or space, plant a tree, create a terrarium with your young one – any activity, big or small, that brings greenery into your home.
6. Stick to cold water washes.
If you’re not doing laundry with only cold water, April 22nd is a great day to make the switch. Washing machines today are fully capable of effectively and thoroughly washing clothes and other items in cold water, and laundry soaps are more effective than ever at handling this task.
7. Post support for Earth Day on social media.
The environment is at the forefront of many politicians’ agendas, but more awareness is needed. Contact your local rep and express support for green initiatives in your community. Post pictures to your social media accounts with photos of your family undertaking eco-friendly activities, like starting a composter or planting a tree. Every action has a ripple effect, and social media is a great way to publicize those actions. Tell others what your family is doing to mark Earth Day, and ask for suggestions you may not have thought of.
How will you and your family “go green” not just on April 22nd, but all year round? With a little planning, initiatives you undertake to commemorate Earth Day this year can work all year long. With everyone in the family on board, real change can happen in your home, in your community, and right across the country. The planet needs help, and your family can do plenty to improve the Earth’s health and make the environment better for coming generations.
(For even more ideas on how to mark April 22nd, check out the website: http://www.earthday.org).