Celebrating 50 years of Earth Day
Every April 22, we stop to give thanks to the Earth on Earth Day. To thank her, (or him, it’s probably debatable) we ride a bicycle to work, we plant a garden, we walk through our neighborhood picking up trash, we blow kisses to the blue skies above, and we wrap our arms around a tree (please tell me I’m not alone here?). For 24 hours, we focus our attention on what we can do to make a difference.
But what happens at 12:00 am on the morning of April 23?
We move on. We shift our attention to something we deem more important and we don’t hug another tree for 364 days. If you’ve ever read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, you know how incredibly sad that makes the tree.
According to earthday.org, “Earth Day was a unified response to an environment in crisis – oil spills, smog, rivers so polluted they literally caught fire.” It was on April 22, 1970, that millions of Americans protested in honor and in hope for a better, brighter, healthier future for this home we so often take for granted.
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Knitted tree sweaters from Eureka Springs, Arkansas
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As COVID-19 has forced us to change up our everyday habits over the past several weeks, maybe now is the perfect time to create new, Earth friendly habits that we can stick with all year long. Simple things like:
- Switching all of your bills to e-bills
- Having a recycling plan in place (and if you already do – how much further can you take it)
- Stop drinking bottled water
- Consider changing your light bulbs out to more environmentally friendly bulbs
- Getting out and enjoying nature
- Fixing something/DIY rather than buying something new
- Showing your neighbors how much you care by creating a window sign (check out this link for ideas)
For even more ideas, check out earthday.org/resolutions-isolutions-for-coronavirus-self-isolation.
However you choose to celebrate, the Earth needs you and your actions. Let’s get to it!
Beth Bangtson, HR Manager
