How to Celebrate Earth Day.
The celebration of Earth Day is on April 22nd and it began 1970. It has grown into a global event recognized by over 192 countries. Devoting special a day to helping for the earth is a way to demonstrate how much we care about the future of our planet. No matter what you like to do best, there's a way to get involved in Earth Day. You could plant a tree, make a meal with locally-grown vegetables, educate a family member, clean up trash in your neighborhood, set up a bird feeder or save power — the possibilities are endless. Remember, you don't have to wait for Earth Day to show your love for the planet we call home.
Method 1 of 5: Getting Engaged
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1Learn more about the environment. Earth Day is a good time to make a commitment to learning more about the environment and how you can help to protect it. Read articles to get up to date on the current issues affecting the environment, like pollution, water shortages, and climate change. Or, learn about a region you've never considered before, like the Arctic, the deserts, or the rain forests. Not sure where to start? Check out your local news sources for information about environmental issues in your own backyard.- Understand how climate change works, and what you can do about it.[1]
- If you live in a city, look into urban environmental issues like contaminated drinking water and energy conservation.[2]
- If you live near a body of water, do research to find out whether it's healthy or in need of help.[3]
- Learn more about fracking, which is affecting many communities in the United States.[4]
- Find out which species native to your area are under threat of extinction.[5]
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2Join an environmental group. Think about the issues that concern you the most and if you haven't done so already, join a local group that undertakes activities to help protect the environment in your area. Earth Day is a great day to start getting involved. In almost any community, you'll find local groups that do the following:[6]- Host clean-ups of local bodies of water and their shores
- Fight air and water pollution
- Plant trees and install community gardens
- Protect habitats under threat of getting developed
- Can't find a group? Consider starting your own.
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3Spread the word. Everyone has environmental knowledge they can share with others. Just talking about the environment with people who may not think about it that much is a good way to celebrate Earth Day. Talk to your parents, friends, teachers, siblings, and anyone else you'd like about the issues you care about most. Here are a few ways to educate others about the earth:- Give a speech at your local library on how to compost with worms
- Take a group of children down to the recycling center to show them how things are recycled
- Recite nature poems in the park
- Offer to teach your office colleagues how to make environmentally-friendly choices at work during lunch hour
- Encourage people to respond and if they have no opinions or they seem to not know much, help them learn some more by imparting your environmental knowledge in a friendly and helpful manner.
- Get a group of friends to wear green and brown. When people ask you why you're dressed like a tree, take the opportunity to talk about Earth Day.
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4Go to an Earth Day fair. Maybe your school, your street, or your local neighborhood is holding an environmental fair. If your community doesn't have one planned, consider starting one yourself. It's the perfect day to get together for a fun and educational celebration of the earth. Money raised can go towards a local environmental restoration project or to an environmental group agreed upon by all the participants running the fair. These offerings are common at Earth Day fairs:- Demonstrations of environmentally-friendly products
- Children's earth-themed artwork
- Healthy/locally grown foods to eat
- Animal care demonstrations (including wildlife rescue)
- Games for the children made of recycled products
- Musicians and actors performing environmental music and skits
- Stalls for recycling unwanted treasures and books
- Local environmental organizations presenting their issues and wares.
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5Enjoy Earth Day entertainment. There are many Earth Day song lyrics available on the Internet. Most follow well-known tunes so people can easily sing along. These make a fantastic classroom activity and help younger children to become interested in environmental topics. iTunes has many songs about the Earth for downloading: try searching for words such as "planet", "Earth", "endangered", "pollution" etc. -
6Cook a special Earth Day meal. Invite friends and family over for a meal, and plan a menu that uses locally produced foods, is healthy and has minimal impact on the environment. Favor vegetables, fruit and other produce, as these use less resources to grow than mass-farmed meat. If you still would like meat, look for locally produced, organic meat. Try to have organic food completely.- To decorate for the meal, use recycled decorations made by you and your friends instead of buying brand-new decorations.
- When you wash up after the meal, use the low-water dishwashing method. Teach those who are helping how to use it, too.
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7Remember that every day is Earth Day. Anything to help our environment is a perfect thing to do on Earth Day and every day. Don't restrict yourself to just one day a year; learn about how you can make a difference to environmental protection all the time. It's going to take a lot of work to heal our planet. Leading by example will help others remember that the earth is important every day of the year.Ad
Method 2 of 5: Caring for Trees, Plants and Animals
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1Plant trees. As the date of Earth Day roughly coincides with U.S. Arbor Day, planting trees is a popular Earth Day activity. Trees helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean pollution, secure soil in place to prevent erosion, and provide homes for many birds, insects and other animals. There's almost no more important, long-lasting act you can do to celebrate Earth Day.- Pick a tree that you know can survive in your climate. It's best to find a species native to where you live. If you're unsure about what that might be, ask an employee at your local garden shop, or inside the garden department of a big-box store.
- To ensure that the tree grows tall and strong, make sure you plant it correctly. Choose the correct planting spot to meet its needs, dig a properly-sized hole, and water the tree well to give it a good start.
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2Plant wildflowers. Choose flowers that are native to your area and plant them in your garden or on nature strips where plants are usually grown. Restoring the local plant life will help attract native bird life, pollinators and local mammals. Here are a few examples of common flowers that will draw wildlife: -
3Welcome animals into your yard. You can do a lot for the creatures of the earth starting in your own yard or neighborhood. In their quest for the perfect lawn, many people drive out the insects, rodents, birds and reptiles that need a place to call home just as much as we do. Starting on Earth Day, why not welcome these nonhuman neighbors into your yard? Here's how to do it.- Instead of mowing the entire yard, leave a few sections unmowed. Bees, butterflies, and many other insects will find this inviting. If you're worried about them coming inside, have the unmowed area in the back of the yard instead of right next to the house.
- Install a bird feeder, bat feeder, squirrel feeder, hummingbird feeder, or any other type of feeder to attract more wild animals.
- Provide a source of water, like a bird bath or a small pond.
- Don't try to get rid of snakes, lizards, frogs, moles, squirrels, and the other creatures who want to hang out in your yard. Many of these animals are beneficial; they aerate your yard, eat mosquitoes and improve biodiversity in the area. Live and let live. Tell your neighbors to do the same!
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4Talk to your neighbors about going organic. Pesticides and herbicides can harm wild animals, native plants, trees, pets, and even humans. Make Earth Day the day you stop using chemicals in your yard and try organic methods of weed and pest removal instead. Consider talking to your neighbors about making the whole neighborhood organic.- 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.
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5Commit to protecting local wild places. Whether you live near an ocean, river, forest, mountain, swamp or lake, wild areas like these need protection. They are home to many plants and animals who rely on them for food and shelter. On Earth Day, commit to protecting the wild places in your community by doing the following:- Join a group working to protect these areas from pollution and developments.
- Encourage people to respect wild spaces by not damaging animal habitats, littering, and dumping in the water.
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6Clean up litter in your community. Many groups use the weekend of Earth Day to clear roadways, highways and neighborhood streets of litter that has accumulated since the last clean-up day.[9] Many companies donate gloves and bags for clean-up groups and villages organize bag pick ups. Once the group has collected the trash and placed the recycled bags along the road, get the village public works department to pick the bags up. It's a wonderful community project that you can do as an individual or with a group.
