Earth Day - April 22nd
April is one of my favorite months, not just because it’s my birthday month, although that’s a perk, but it’s because Spring is starting or has already sprung. Earth Day is on the 22nd of every year. You may be surprised to know that Earth Day is not another “Hallmark” holiday. The Farmer’s Almanac says, “In 1970, San Francisco activist John McConnell and Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson separately asked Americans to join in a grassroots demonstration. McConnell chose the spring equinox (March 21, 1970) and Nelson chose April 22.
Millions of people participated, and today Earth Day continues to be widely celebrated with events on both dates.” Earth Day is a day for observance of supporting environmental issues. Most commonly, new trees were planted on Earth Day, but this movement has since grown.
These days, there are many different campaigns and events that take place to celebrate this day. In my household, my personal campaign has always been for recycling and reusing as much as we can. For me, it also means doing whatever else we can to save our environment and climate. I used to believe in the whole climate change narrative, but have since learned that this is a false narrative. Our Mother Earth is not broken. She is doing what she has always done. Even though my views have changed on the narrative, my views on not being a wasteful person remain the same.
Here are 13 things we do at our house that maybe you can incorporate into your household if you haven’t already done so.
1. We use cloth napkins instead of paper towels and napkins.
2. We use real plates instead of paper plates, or you can opt for more sustainable ones that are eco-friendly. Reduce the use of paper in general.
3. We use real silverware and utensils instead of plastic. In fact, we stopped using plastics altogether on a daily basis. This includes using plastic straws, utensils, cups and bowls. Plastic can be very toxic, not only to the earth as it takes 500 years or more to decompose, but it’s also quite toxic to our bodies. I’ve switched out glassware or stainless steal wherever I can.
4. We stopped buying so many water bottles and use a reusable bottle.
5. We use reusable bags instead of plastic bags from the store. And when we do use the store bags, we recycle them all!
6. We cut down on the use of electricity/reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can. Turning off lights in rooms that we’re not using, turning our thermostat up or down (hot or cold) by one or two degrees, and we replaced our old appliances with new energy efficient ones. We’re currently checking into solar energy for our home as well.
7. Plant and prepare a garden, small or large. It’s such a blessing to grow your own food and be able to feed people from it. Composted food waste clippings are a wonderful addition to any garden! Old newspapers can be used as a liner to block weeds or shred them and add them to your compost pile.
8. Cut down on your shopping waste. This means to buy whole, raw foods that are minimally packed. It’s not only healthier for you, but also healthier for the environment. For a household of three people, we generally have only one bag of garbage that goes in the trash per week. The rest goes out in the recycle bin. It can be done. If your area does not have curb-side recycling like mine, find alternative ways to recycle like taking in the recycling to the dump yourself or paying for a company to come to your home to pick it up. It all makes a difference.
9. Recycle and Reuse! Of course, recycle and reuse as much as you can. Recycle your clothing and household items, even furniture. One man’s junk is usually another man’s treasure. Shop at garage sales, thrift stores and secondhand stores. Share hand-me-downs among family and friends. I have a few friends that reclaim used furniture to make it brand new once again. Many people also recycle items and craft many different things. With the help of the internet these days, you can either start your own business or buy from someone to help their business grow. Either way, it’s a win!
10. Replace store-bought household cleaners for one that’s more environmentally safe. My homemade all-purpose cleaner is my favorite! Here's the recipe: combine 3 cups water, 1 cup rubbing alcohol, and 1/4 cup white vinegar in spray bottle. This cleans and shines better than any store-bought product I’ve ever used. Also, use natural sponges or clothes for cleaning and doing the dishes instead of paper towels, plastic sponges and SOS pads. I use a plastic scraper for cleaner my stuck-on pots and pans and I’ll be honest with you. I rarely ever have to scrub or soak them.
11. DON’T USE ROUND-UP OR OTHER PESTICIDES! I know this may sound crazy but we need to just get out there and pull those weeds by hand! Round Up for example, can last up to 14 days in the soil just in your backyard alone, and longer depending on the amount used. It’s safer for all of us living on this planet and it doubles as an absolutely great exercise! There’s an article on PubMed that I always talk about. It’s titled, Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes. If you scroll down to Figure 7 under Environmental Pollution, it states that pesticides are the cause of childhood Leukemia and Ewing’s Sarcoma! For those of you that don’t know, my daughter passed away from a 3 1/2 year battle against Ewing’s Sarcoma of the chest wall. I find it disheartening that they know pesticides causes these cancers in children and they allow pesticides to be used. So, keep your children safe as well as the environment and don’t use pesticides!
12. Conserve on hot water usage and water usage in general, whenever possible. We’ve all heard our mothers yelling at us for this one, and now. I’ve become mine. Watching how much the water runs when we’re doing dishes, brushing our teeth and so on helps to save on the amount of water having to be recycled in treatment plants. Fresh water is used far faster than we can replace it. Reducing hot water usage is washing machines, taking shorter showers, fewer hot baths, and so on will cut down on the usage of fossil fuels (what we take from the Earth’s crust in the form of natural gas to heat up the water). Water is life and we all need to share it.
13. Use natural personal care products such as the Honey Hill Naturals line, to limit toxic chemicals.
Bonus things we do that you and your family can do also.
Earthing or grounding. Did you know the earth actually provides us with an electromagnetic connection to the earth? Even touching a tree provides us beneficial enzymes that are good for our health! Grounding or earthing is the natural therapy technique that involves touching the earth elements, such as grass, dirt, plants, trees, water, or sand, in some way. Grounding is even studied by scientists for inflammation, muscle damage, chronic pain, heart diseases, and even mood. They find that through this process of grounding, the body’s natural defenses can be restored. It is truly amazing! We are all connected! So, make some time to walk barefoot in the sand or hug a tree!
Sun exposure. We are taught to fear the sun, to wear sunglasses to protect our eyes and to wear toxic sunscreens every time we go out. We are fed by the sun from nutrients to hormones. We absolutely need the sun! I’m not saying to get sunburned. I’m saying to expose your skin and eyes for at least 10 to 20 minutes everyday as much as possible. I come from a family of twelve and we know all too well things were definitely different in those times. When my mother delivered my brother Jim, her third child, he was very sick and small. She was very sick as well. She weighed all of 98 pounds. I can’t even imagine! Okay, this isn’t the real story. What I find so amazing, even to this day, was her prescription for health. The doctor wrote out his script pad like all doctors did back then, and this is what he wrote. She was to hold my brother Jim, outside in the sunshine, exposing as much skin as possible (for the both of them), for twenty minutes every day. Twenty minutes every day, exposed to the sun! Don’t you see, it is the excess sun, depending on our skin types and nutrition levels (yes, what we eat matters) that can cause damage. I still recommend good ole sunshine as part of any natural health routine to get natural vitamin D as a hormone and a vitamin, heal skin conditions, heal anxiety and depression, especially for those of us that are living in the Midwest states. (Always use an organic-type sunblock or zinc oxide if you will be out in the sun for longer periods of time to protect against sunburn.)
I hope you enjoy Earth Day and have fun creating fun new events to do with it. Find something important to you and run with it. Parents, show your kids just how important they are to our future, by teaching them by example how we care for the future of their planet.