Earth Day was set aside to spread awareness and gain support for environmental protection.  In honor of this event, people globally celebrate in different ways.  Earth Day celebrated it’s 50th year last year but got buried in the sea of Covid-19 chaos, masks and fear of being too close to others. 

This week’s focus is simple!  Email me at Janelleb.Baldwin@SoulisticWell-Being.com for your free custom-made invitation that you can email out to friends and neighbors and organize your own clean-up event.  Invite and inspire your neighborhood, street, or block to do a clean-up with week or some other project to save the planet!   You can even register your own clean up here! 

Earth Day is an annual holiday, celebrated every April 22nd.  Senator Gaylord Nelson, a junior senator from Wisconsin, witnessed a massive oil spill in 1969 in Santa Barbara, California.  He wanted to infuse the energy of student anti-war protests with an emerging public consciousness about air and water pollution.  Denis Hayes, who was a young activist at the time, recognized the potential to inspire ALL Americans to be more conservation minded. Earth Day 1970 enlisted both Republican and Democratic support and it led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.  Two years later Congress passed the Clean Water Act.  All kinds of environmental laws have been passed to protect millions of people from disease and death and protected hundreds of species from extinction.

In 1990 Earth Day went global.  Denis Hayes was again tasked with organizing a major save the planet campaign.  In 1970 they estimated 20 million Americans participated and has grown to 200 million people in 141 countries mobilizing to boost recycling efforts worldwide and for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.  It also prompted President Clinton to award Senator Gaylord Nelson the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest honor given to civilians in the United States for his role as the Earth Day founder.  WOW!  Wisconsin is amazing!  We may not be Hollywood, but what has Hollywood done for the environment?

“The social and cultural environments we saw in 1970 are rising up again today — a fresh and frustrated generation of young people are refusing to settle for platitudes, instead taking to the streets by the millions to demand a new way forward. Digital and social media are bringing these conversations, protests, strikes and mobilizations to a global audience, uniting a concerned citizenry as never before and catalyzing generations to join together to take on the greatest challenge that humankind has faced.” – Earthday.org/history/

I invite you to focus on how you can reduce your carbon footprint on this earth by taking the linked quiz. 

 I’ve added some random tips below on how you can reduce, reuse and recycle on your own if the introvert in you needs an Earth Day Project that doesn’t require interacting with others.   Pick one tip below and commit to trying it this week.  I’ve also added a few video links for inspiration!  Let’s take care of our planet and be better stewards of God’s gifts. It’s easy, it’s the right thing…so let’s all do our part!

Random Tips to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

1.      Declutter the closets – have rummage sales, donate to thrift stores, repurpose clothes by using the cloth, etc.

2.      Put more clothes on than turning up the heat or get active! Burn calories, not fuel.

3.      Calculate your ecological footprint foot print:  https://www.footprintcalculator.org/

4.      Buy used, second hand or thrift store items.

5.      Buy reusable items such as: shopping bags, straws etc.

6.      Compost and make your own nutrient rich soil. https://youtu.be/nioI7i329_4 or check out “Composting for beginners”: https://youtu.be/bGRunDez1j4 . Bury Your Kitchen Scraps and see what happens! https://youtu.be/yQFB9M2UdK0

7.      Use resealable glass containers for food storage. You can see what’s in them too! This avoids food waste.

8.      Buy local, utilize farmers markets or grow your own herbs or veggies.

9.      Use dishcloths instead of paper toweling or crochet your own “scrubbies” out of netting, then wash and re-use them!

10.  Create a balcony garden or small space garden. Here’s some inspiration https://youtu.be/hxU9gtORwWU

11.  Join Earth Day 2021 https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2021/  Find and register for an event!

How have you been inspired to celebrate earth day 2021? Email me and send pictures of your celebration! I’d love to see how YOU are taking action! Janelleb.Baldwin@SoulisticWell-Being.com.