Five Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

Wednesday April 22nd is Earth Day. There are a ton of Earth Day events planned in my area, from the Hazardous Waste Day at the local landfill to a program about the Chesapeake Bay at the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum. If your state doesn’t have a lot of Earth Day events going on, you can still participate in Earth Day, though. Here are five ways to celebrate this green day:

Photo: SXC

1. Clean up the neighborhood. We did this every year when I lived in Baltimore City. Just took a big garbage bag, thick gloves and some tools and went from the street corner down to our house picking up trash that would have gone into the rain gutters if we didn’t remove it. Parent supervision is a must if you’re doing this with kids. You don’t want them picking up broken glass or something worse.
2. Join a volunteer group that is cleaning up a nearby hiking area or waterway. In my county alone, three separate clean ups have been organized for Earth Day.
3. Switch to natural cleaners. A few thousand people replacing just one chemical cleaner with an eco-friendly alternative can make a big difference.
4. Recycle something instead of tossing it out. I know you probably already use a recycling program for glass and paper. I’m talking about additional recycling. For example, cut a holey t-shirt into rags to wipe up spills instead of throwing it out.
5. Plant a wildflower garden. (Just be careful not to turn it into a tick friendly area if you are in a location where Lyme Disease is common!)