Happy Earth Day everyone!

Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson in 1970.  Today marks the 45th anniversary of what is considered the birth of a modern environmental movement.  The aim was to encourage emerging consciousness of environmental movements and inspire individuals to rally together to take a stand for the environment, pushing environmental concerns to the forefront, and become the focus of discussion and news stories.

Today, in honor of Earth Day, friends, family and co-workers can take an Earth Day challenge and pledge to commit to one or more of these easy to keep green resolutions. During Earth Week, we become more conscious of the environment and our impact on the planet. We get into “green mode” anticipating celebrating Earth Day and feel inspired to be as environmentally responsible as possible.  These 5 green resolutions are easy to do, and will help you to contribute to making a positive impact on planet earth, this Earth Day.

Earth Day Challenge: 5 Green Resolutions

1. Get Unplugged

I often talk about the necessity to unplug electronic devices when they are fully charged and not needed for use, as these items burn “phantom electricity” when plugged in, even though they are turned off. To make this more fun, or bearable. Consider dedicating a few hours out of the day to have some quality family time. A good old fashioned fun game night, of playing board games, card games or charades. An easy way to ensure that family members are not plugged into social media while they are socializing with their family, place cell phones and iPads into a basket or someplace out of sight. Extend game night to friends.

2. Dinner Under The Stars

If possible, plan for at least one night (why not tonight for Earth Day) to host a dinner party, or family dinner outdoors. If you have a patio, take advantage of enjoying your surroundings of nature. Plan to have meals that incorporate produce provided at the farmers market. By supporting local you help not only our economy, local farmers but also the environment. Consider making your dinner party a potluck, have friends and family members bring their favorite dishes.

3. Ban Plastic

It is fantastic that recycling is available on a wide scale here in Cayman. Special thanks to projects by Join In, and JUNK Cayman! They are awesome, and making such a positive impact on our environment!  It is wonderful that they are spreading awareness about recycling and making recycling accessible and easy to do. The ability to recycle plastic, cans, and glass is making a huge difference, and helping to preserve our environment. Less waste is being dumped into the landfill. Perhaps, we can go a step further, even if just for 1 day, choose to ban plastic products and bags entirely. The benefit to this is challenge, is to really take notice how many products used in your daily life are made from plastic. So to keep it simple, any products you purchase during Earth Day, cannot be made of plastic, and no plastic bags to pack your groceries, bring your reusable bags.

4. Use Less Paper Towel

Wiping up spills on the counter with paper towels is an easy habit to fall into. Instead, try to keep cotton or bamboo cloths on deck. By making a switch to cloths over paper towels you help eliminate the 3,000 tons of paper towels that end up landfills every day.

5. Skip Take-Out

Ordering in lunch or dinner is a real treat. However, cooking made with love meals for lunch and dinner can be very tasty and helps the environment by reducing the amount of packaging and waste that ends up in the landfill. Primarily, most take-out comes in plastic boxes or styrofoam. Plastic is the lesser of the two evils as it can at least be recycled. Styrofoam on the other hand is not biodegradable and can’t be recycled. The best part about cooking from scratch is that you know exactly what is going into your meal. As a family, everyone can pitch in, and kids can have fun learning to cook.  This is a great chance, to visit your local farmers market and cook a lovely dinner.

Here is an incredible video I came across yesterday, it arrived in perfect timing, just in time for Earth Day.  This video is only 6 minutes of your time.

 

with love from one tree hugger to another, xo