23 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day 2023.

What do we all have in common, most definitely, without refute? 

The EARTH, of course. We obviously wouldn’t be here if not for our beautiful planet Earth. As much as we have become confounded by our own cage of convenience and greed, we need to realize that we are not a separate entity from our planet, we are intrinsically bound to this Earth and we all have a responsibility to take care of our Home, this planet Earth.

US Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin had a similar notion when he founded Earth Day with the hopes of increasing public awareness of environmental concerns, way back in 1970. The date April 22 was chosen as Earth Day to maximize students’ involvement as it served as a mid-point between students’ Spring Break and final exams of the year, in the United States. The day was later adopted as the worldwide celebration of our unique planet Earth. 

The theme of Earth Day 2023 is to Invest in Our Planet. We, as a species, must work together, with each action, even in our daily lives, adding up to the ocean of change we must bring about to live and sustain our planet and in turn, ourselves. Investing in our planet does not necessarily mean just in monetary terms. It includes the time and effort spent in making environmentally sound decisions, awareness and positive action and reinforcements, every day. Not just on the day on which Earth is celebrated.  We have to believe that it is possible to live congruently with nature, preserve ecology and improve human health and wellness and make it true for ourselves by investing in our planet. We can all do this, by helping each other and building strong communal bonds that act as a support system for all to elevate our lives and our impact upon our planet Earth. 

Here are 23 ways in which you can take steps every day, to be an investor in our Planet Earth and contribute in any which way it is possible for you. 

1. Buy Local Produce 

We need to start by making our local systems robust, with minimal effect to supply through fluctuating global food crisis situations. The easiest way to do that is to invest in local produce. Provide support to local farmers and support farmer’s markets in your locality. Make it a point to enquire where they are procuring their stock. Even just switching from 10-minute home delivery to picking up stuff from your local Kirana store or hopcoms contributes hugely to reducing your carbon footprint.   

2. Fight Climate Change with Diet change

Let’s start by Eating less meat, and more greens. Food preferences are a highly subjective matter and everyone is entitled to their choices. That being said, we always have the choice to reduce our negative impact on our planet. Why not start by reducing the amount of meat we consume on a weekly basis? Go Meatless Mondays at home, try cutting heavy protein from your dinner meals, switching to white meat from red meat. Make certain that the animals that give us their products are treated in a humane manner and are taken care of well. Invest in the businesses that are practicing these ethics by the book. 

3. Shop Sustainable

Are you really gonna wear that or are you just buying it because it’s apparently 50% off? We may think we are getting the deal of a lifetime in that moment, but when that shopping high wears off, we will realize the environmental costs of this one decision of “buy now”. Shop Sustainable on this Earth Day, by investing in products that are made with materials that are natural, long-lasting and made ethically. Check out the numerous thrift stores on social media, host closet swap parties with your friends, donate the quality items that are taking up space in your wardrobe and perhaps even take up a slow fashion challenge. 

4. Get Plogging!

A combination of the Swedish term “Plocka upp” which is Pick up and the English word Jogging, this activity involves collecting trash on your jogging route. Plogging is picking up *pun intended* a lot of traction in the sustainability community, and many organizations now hosting Plogging Marathons to raise environmental awareness. Don’t forget to wear protective gloves when you get plogging. 

5. Calculate Your FoodPrint

Be aware of the impact our food choices have on the environment so that we can make conscious choices for positive change. earthday.org has a page dedicated to various types of calculators you can use to calculate your FoodPrint.

6. Stand Against Deforestation.

As the land where the world-renowned Chipko movement, we should be spearheading every movement against the unethical cutting down of forests in the name of “progress”. Forests are the second largest defense we have in our fight against unholy amounts of carbon emissions around the globe. They are our carbon sinks, and we need to do all that we can to protect and add to this green cover, because our lives really do depend on them. 

7. Reduce our plastic consumption

With each product we use in our daily lives, we just need to add another filter to our consumption process and that is “Does this add to my plastic consumption and how can I avoid it?”. Start small, and make the switch from plastic toothbrushes to bamboo toothbrushes, from plastic tubes to tooth powder that is available in reusable containers. Save the packaging from our online purchases and repurpose them as garbage bags, disposing of dry waste in them as opposed to buying plastic specifically to throw it away.  

8. Compost

Improperly disposed of food waste is the leading cause of accelerated emission of greenhouse gases into our environment. If we can all compost in our own homes, and within our communities, we can make a significant dent in our contribution to climate change. 

9. Grow an Organic Garden

You do not need to live on a farm or even on the ground to have fresh herbs and veggies for your daily needs. We can start small by sowing common herbs such as coriander, fenugreek, spinach, mint, and many more in small containers on your terrace or even on your windowsill. There are so many sources online from blogs to tutorial videos to help you navigate the journey of making those thumbs green and turning you into an urban farmer!   

10. Encourage the use of reusable utensils, dishes and trays

Next time you feel like having that cut chai from your local tea stall, ask for a steel or glass utensil as opposed to the Styrofoam cups that have plagued our lives. With the support-backed demand, local vendors will make necessary changes to avoid the use of single use plastic in their daily transactions. 

11. Push for plant-based options

There is an alternative option for pretty much anything you can think of now, with the sustainability movement gaining traction around our planet. With our support and due diligence, we can make significant reductions to our dependence on animal-based products that are causing the rapid degeneration of our world. 

12. Go Pesticide free

There is an unquantifiable amount of chemicals swirling about us in many forms that we cannot control. What we can control is our exposure to products that have been treated with harmful pesticides. Research and invest in produce grown by farmers who are using environmentally-friendly methods of pest control on their farms. 

13. Switch to Reusable bags

You can Tote-tally do this! Next time the cashier asks you if you want to be charged extra for a carry bag, you can proudly say “No thank you!” and pull out that reusable tote bag. This is a simple yet highly effective way to make a move towards a conscious and sustainable lifestyle. 

14. Support Organic ingredients

Support vendors and organizations who are certified organic by governing agencies. This demand will in turn support farmers make the shift from genetically modified seeds that are dependent on chemical fertilizers as a mainstream practice to organic practices on a much larger scale. 

15. Join and organize local clean-up drives

Think Global, Act Local. We cannot crib about waste collecting in our landfills when our own locality is covered in litter. Change that lazy Sunday morning into an activity-filled day that engages the community to care about their environment and our home planet. It can be even just cleaning up the street you live on, it’s a start. 

16. Use A Reusable Water Bottle

This is another easy habit to form and one that is beneficial on multiple levels. And the best part is, most of us are pretty used to doing this in our younger days when we used to carry our own water bottles and tiffins to school. So, when you think about it, we will just be re-learning a habit that we are already adept at while making sure no more single-use PET bottles end up in our landfills or pollute our oceans. 

17. Use Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Products

Studies have shown that traces of chemicals present in cleaning products have been found in newborn babies and even in the placenta of the mother. The impacts of these chemicals in our bloodstreams, in the long run, is still unknown, but we can take a wild guess and say it’s not going to be a good thing. We come in contact with many surfaces in our daily lives, and protecting ourselves from these chemicals can be done by switching to organic and natural cleaning products.   

18. Turn off your appliances when not in use

The lights, your plugged-in chargers, the TV, and appliances in the kitchen, turn them off and unplug them if possible whenever they are not being used. 

19. Practice one simple act of green every day

Chose to compost the watermelon rinds instead of disposing of them? Good Job! Took the stairs instead of the elevator? Alright! High-Five! Brought your own containers for your Take-Away Order? You’re Awesome! Just one simple act, it could be anything, every day. That’s it. 

20. Get active with Climate and Environmental Awareness and Action

 We can always keep learning. Our generation is blessed with endless knowledge at the tip of our fingers, let us use that privilege wisely. Educate ourselves and others around us, in a non-threatening, positive manner, open to resistance. 

21. Ask for renewable power. 

Fossil fuels have wrecked irreparable damage to our atmosphere and continue to do so and it is high time we switched to alternatives. With increased demand, renewable sources of energy can finally take center stage and pave the way for a much more sustainably compliant energy source.

22. Tell your elected leaders to ban and more importantly enforce the ban on single-use plastic. 

We the People have the power in our hands to bring about the change we want to see. With strict adherence, we can win the fight against the plague of single-use plastic that is choking our planet. 

23. Advocate for climate education 

Climate education and awareness should start at an early age, in schools and colleges, preparing our next generation so they will be equipped to continue the stride to a sustainable future on our beautiful planet Earth.

Here is hoping that this Earth Day information has served you well and it will help you make the significant changes, to support a much more sustainable lifestyle. 

Let this Earth Day Celebration be a stepping stone to a bright and sustainable way of life for us all. 

As a parting Earth Day message, to paraphrase Anne-Marrie Bonneau, 

We don’t need a handful of people doing sustainability perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly! 

References:

• https://www.earthday.org/foodprints-calculators/
• https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2023/ 
• https://foodprint.org/quiz/
• https://foodprint.org/shopping-sustainably/
• https://climate.nasa.gov/solutions/resources/
• https://climate.nasa.gov/news/3260/nasa-releases-agency-climate-strategy/