Earth Day - Many Ways to Participate

Merriam-Webster defines Earth Day as, "a day in April designated for promoting concern for the environment". Hopefully we do this throughout the year, but by participating in different Earth Day events each year we may learn about some other great things we can add to our to do list to help our environment. Look on Eventbrite for several Earth Day events around the DFW area. In addition there is the Earth Day celebration at Fair Park in Dallas which has grown into a large event, now branded as EarthX.

This year Earth Day is officially Monday, April 22, 2019. A nationally recognized day with a similar focus is Arbor Day. National Arbor Day is April 26 this year. Texas actually recognizes TX Arbor Day later in the year because planting trees in Texas in the fall helps them get established better to withstand our summer heat than planting this late in the spring. Therefore you will generally find Earth Day events around either date in April in Texas with Arbor Day events in the fall.

Earth Day 2016

Celebrate Earth Day on Friday, April 22 or at an Earth Day event that continues through the weekend such as Earth Day Texas at Fair Park in Dallas, TX. Earth Day Texas focuses on environmental awareness and education and is an annual forum for sharing the latest initiatives, discoveries, research, innovations, policies, products, and corporate practices that are reshaping our world.

Earth Day was founded in 1970 by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson, of Wisconsin, as a national “teach-in” day, according to the Earth Day Network. Nelson wrote about the origins of Earth Day on Envirolink, "I announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment and invited everyone to participate. The wire services carried the story from coast to coast. The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air – and they did so with spectacular exuberance."

What will you do to celebrate the Earth? Many people plant trees, participate in clean up projects, go on a nature hike or take inventory of how they can reduce their carbon footprint. Whether it is big or small, I hope you have a fabulous time contemplating or being out in our wonderful natural world and doing your bit to safeguard our environment. I created a photographic art image of a tree spirit who emerged during winter storm Jonas, in honor of the other living creatures sharing planet earth with us.

Earth Day 2015

I stumbled across a great Pinterest board a few days ago with plenty of ideas and events geared towards celebrating Earth Day brought to you by Keep Texas Beautiful. You don't have to live in the Lone Star State to find a pin there with something you can do for Earth Day, as not all of them are TX specific. At least one of the pins includes a reminder about using reusable grocery bags. Everyone should try this suggestion out.

I have gathered a small collection of reusable shopping bags. I like the insulated bags from Central Market and Target for frozen or cold foods. Also in the first photo are two clever bags that I received in a conference goodie bag. (one expanded, one stuffed) They have a pocket inside each bag that you stuff them into when not in use for compact storage and they have a small carabiner for ease of carry. The second photo includes a bag I got on a trip last summer and one that was a surprise holiday gift from Etsy last year.

I must admit I'm not the best at always using them because I don't tend to remember my bags until I am at the grocery store and the bags are still safely stored at home. However, I have gotten better at making sure I have at least a couple in my car after finding myself in Austin, needing to grocery shop, after they instituted their plastic bag ban. Luckily my purchases stacked fairly well and I made it to my car without dropping anything. Several Texas cities have followed Austin's lead and passed ordinances banning one time use plastic bags, so putting a couple of reusable shopping bags in your car just in case you find yourself in the same situation I was in would be prudent and good for the environment to boot.

Please check out the Keep Texas Beautiful board to see what you can do to celebrate Earth Day and do your part to protect Mother Earth. All of the things we do, big or small, do matter.

Earth Day and Arbor Day 2014

Earth Day is celebrated each year on April 22, while Arbor Day in the U.S. seems to be celebrated in most locations on the last Friday of April. That puts Arbor Day a mere 3 days after Earth Day in 2014. Both days are good days to reflect on the natural world around you and what you can do to keep it healthy.

This is the 44th anniversary for Earth Day, begun as a way to promote environmental awareness and protection. If you take part in local Earth Day events in your area, hopefully you will pick up a few new tips on how to leave a smaller footprint on the earth by recycling, reusing, properly disposing of waste, increasing the energy efficiency of your home and more. The focus of Earth Day TX 2014 (Apr. 26-27) at Fair Park in Dallas, TX is water. The event guide states, “The event showcases the world’s largest public exhibition of environmental and water conserving initiatives from businesses, environmental nonprofits, schools, universities and government agencies. Our goal is to demonstrate how green lifestyle choices can reduce cost of living, improve health and help save the environment.”

With the two environmentally centered holidays coming so close together this year, you will find Arbor Day celebrations on the weekend of Apr. 26-27 as well. Once such Arbor Day celebration is Arbor Daze in Euless, TX. Need a tree to plant? You can pick up one here to celebrate this tree planting holiday. I have several trees on my property that started as small Arbor Day saplings that now provide wonderful shade.

Earth Day 2013

Monday, April 22 is the day set aside this year as Earth Day. Its purpose is to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's natural environment. If you are a gardener you probably have a fairly high appreciation of this and may already be doing many things in your daily life to help protect the environment. However you might also need help when it comes to one byproduct of your gardening efforts. What to do with all of those pots that your cherished plants come in since many if not most curbside recycling programs do not take them?

I ran across some useful tips when reading a newsletter from Gardener’s Supply Company that linked to the full article on their blog. It will be especially useful if you live near the St. Louis, Missouri area and want to recycle your empty pots. The blog post also includes tips for how to reuse many types of pots that you may have lying around your garden shed or garage.

While I didn’t find a comprehensive list of places currently recycling planting pots to link you to, I did find that googling “planting pot recycling (plus your state)” returned several leads that you can use to track down recycling programs for planting pots in your area. So don’t despair, you can still head out to your local nursery and pick out some plants to add to your landscape this weekend in a mini celebration of Earth Day and not feel guilty about the potential negative impact of your empty planting pots if you follow these tips to find alternative uses for or recycle them.

Earth Day 2010 – 40 Tips for 40 Years

Today marks the fortieth anniversary of Earth Day. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson as an environmental teach-in that was first held on April 22, 1970. It is now celebrated internationally. Earth Day’s purpose is to make people aware of their impact on and promote appreciation of our environment.

I’ve heard people say that they don’t bother with recycling and trying to be earth friendly because whatever they might do is too small to make a difference. It is true that if only one person made an effort, those efforts would be statistically insignificant or if only one person was wasteful, that no impact would be felt on the environment as a whole. However, what one person does usually influences others, so it is worth your while to pitch in and do what you can to leave as minimal a footprint on our environment as possible. Consider your efforts multiplied by masses of people and all of a sudden you are part of an effort that does have a positive impact. Different people will be better at different things, so listen to the myriads of great ideas out there and add in the ones to your life that are a fit for you. You can and do have an impact. Will your impact be positive or negative?

Instead of rehashing the usual tips like upgrading your light bulbs, recycling your newspapers or conserving water, I’m going to share with you 40 items picked by Etsy that recycle, repurpose or upcycle materials to make something new or in some other way are green products. I’m excited that my rustic wood vase was included in this varied collection of earth friendly products. I hope that browsing these products encourages you to purchase one of these or other environmentally friendly finds or inspires you to recycle, repurpose or upcycle something in your own world into a great “new” useful item.

Please think about what you can do for our planet the rest of the year as well. Happy Earth Day!