Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute: Why Being Eco-Conscious is Cool!
If we’re still around post-Corona, we’ll be celebrating Earth Day on April 22. What does this mean (beyond countless reposts of Greta’s tweets on Instagram stories)? When introduced in 1970, the date was a chance to educate the public on environmental issues. Today, Earth Day can mean whatever you want it to! Importance, celebration, and awareness vary on a person to person basis. For me, Earth Day is a great time to appreciate how cool the planet is. Of course, this is something I should do every day, but, to be honest, when I have a lot of things on my plate (like we all do), admiring the place I see every day is not my top priority. It should be, but it's not something that often crosses my mind.
What I do think about on a daily basis is what I’m doing to harm the planet and ways that I can change these habits. Recently, I’ve been more conscious of my impact on the environment, and I’ve definitely caught a lot of mistakes I would have typically overlooked. Things that were part of my everyday life become a source of major guilt. I now bring reusable bags to the grocery store, and avoid plastic water bottles when possible. I’m definitely not doing the most I can be doing, but if we were all to do a little, we really could set the precedent for putting the planet in a better direction. Hopefully, even those who don’t believe in global warming can get behind the concept of “leaving it like you found it” or, more importantly, leave it even better.
So, if you want to do something for Earth Day, here are some cool ideas:
Go vegetarian for the day! (or for good!) - the meat industry is a major polluter
Clean up trash!
Buy a reusable water bottle!
Volunteer at Ruffner Mountain, Turkey Creek, or with Black Warrior Riverkeeper! (they have cool merch ;) )
Do the Earth Day FunRun!
Stop supporting fast fashion!
Go on a hike!
Do some research on how to reduce waste in your everyday life, on causes of climate change, alternatives to plastic, or whatever aspect of environmental preservation seems most interesting!
Keep in mind that these are all things you can do every day. While it can be hard to incorporate each and every one of these acts into everyday life, you can weave them into your lifestyle. No idea’s a bad idea when being eco-conscious! Whether you choose to participate in an activity or celebration, take a few moments to think about the Earth and your personal impact on it. Let’s just make it a goal to contribute. This article is not to say that if everybody recycles we will save the world; We need drastic, large scale changes. We can be the ones to spark the change through activism, but at the same time, doing the little things on our part will add to the positive impact. We cannot be asking larger parties to contribute to a greener lifestyle without pitching in. At the end of the day, this is our planet. It’s our responsibility to take care of it.