Earth Day Inside Our Homes
/Celebrate Earth Day
It’s April 22 and today we celebrate Earth Day! Except this year, much of it will be spent inside or practicing our new activity of social distancing, so gathering together for Earth Day events won’t be quite the same of past years.
We Belong To The Earth
We are reminded in this quote that our human lives are tied to our planet. Even if you succeeded at living on Mars, you would not just run out the door of your house for a walk in the park. Firstly, you’d need to climb into your spacesuit that would provide oxygen. And heaven help you if your unit failed.
No oxygen? It will only take a couple of minutes for that to no longer be a problem. As in, you will have expired and oxygen will no longer be needed for your lifeless body.
Well, on that cheery note, let us give a moment of thanks to our trees and plants that contribute oxygen to this planet.
Oxygen = breath = life. Our precious breath that allows us to be here. It’s the cry of a newborn baby as his lungs fill with life-sustaining air. It’s our breath in our meditations. Our lifeline to this planet is our breath. We are deeply connected to our precious earth.
Ideas For A Locked-Down Earth Day
Rainier Fruit from Washington State put together some ideas for creating Earth Day habits that we can do at home and that extend throughout the year. Because, truly, Earth Day is not just a day. It’s a way of life.
Rainier’s ideas are easily translated into our daily lives. Do you remember your parents telling you to turn off the lights if you’re not in the room? That’s an easy one.
Leftovers are a great way to decrease waste and to help your budget. Make an initial investment in some reusable containers to store leftover foods in the refrigerator. Glass is great for tomato or oily based foods. For plastic containers, make sure they are BPA-free.
Can’t stand eating the same meal two days in a row? Make use of your freezer. Divide leftover meals into single-serve containers. Let them defrost in the refrigerator and voilà, a meal you can enjoy a week, or even a month, later.
Eating-up your leftovers has the added benefit of decreasing your time spent cooking. A little reheat on a stovetop or in a microwave makes a quick and satisfying meal.
Just say NO to plastic, one-time use water bottles. Klean Kanteen is my go-to for sustainable bottles, but there are a lot of different companies that fulfill this purpose. You can also get reusable, insulated containers for when you visit your favorite coffee shop. Decrease your use of single-use coffee cups.
If you carry an 8-ounce coffee container into Starbucks (double espresso, touch of milk), they take it and you might even get a 5¢ discount for using your own container. Hey, every little bit helps!
If you like big coffee drinks, hot or cold, the insulated mugs come in all sizes to accommodate various caffeine-concoctions.
In Touch With Nature
For those of us stuck in small apartments where it’s difficult to get out, our need for nature looms more strongly than we ever realized. It’s easy to take nature for granted until we can’t be in it.
Given how much our planet sustains us, we want to make sure it’s cared for in a responsible way. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming. This big planet – I’m just a small human, what can *I* do to help?
Each of us can help in very small ways. If you never leave a piece of trash on the highway or in the park, that is one less piece of trash. If you put into practice just a couple ideas this year, and then add to that next year, and so on, when it’s all added together, we begin to make a difference.
Enjoy and connect to Planet Earth today and every day!
