Earth Day 2012

Earth Day is a celebration of the environment each year that takes place worldwide in over 175 countries to encourage and increase the general populations awareness of our natural environment. It is estimated that on April, 22nd each year nearly 500 million people from around the world stage events, demonstrations, and projects to shed light on local and international environmental issues.

The idea of Earth Day began in 1970 and has been credited to a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin. Gaylord Nelson was inspired to create an “environmental teach-in” (Earth Day) after witnessing the devastating 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. The grassroots efforts spread from that point forward and has evolved into much of what we see on Earth Day presently.

So what are some of the ways a person could go about celebrating Earth Day 2012? Can an easy change in lifestyle behavior make a huge difference to the greater picture of the world we all share? As Sarah Palin would say “YOU BETCHA!”

Renew Your New Years Resolution
Did you make a promise to be more thoughtful of the environment as a New Years Resolution? Have you lived up to that resolution? Regardless of whether you’ve hit that goal of recycling 50% of your waste or you’ve been meaning to get around to building that backyard composting bin…Earth Day 2012 is the day to renew those resolutions. Take a look at our challenge: The Environmental Blog’s 7 Day Green Challenge and see whether you can do any of the challenges today in support of Earth Day.

I wouldn’t worry about the ‘environmental police’ enforcers coming after you for using that non-green cleaning soap the past couple of months. Instead I would kindly encourage you to use less electricity today by enjoying the outdoors. Small things that we all do will add up in a big way. The more we encourage each other to be mindful of the environment, the more natural it will become in our every day lives. =)

Sign Up to Reduce Your Junk Mail
I have said it many times before on this website, but cutting down on your junk mail is one of the easiest ways to reduce wasted paper, reduce human energy, and transportation energy thus reducing our carbon footprint. Besides the obvious benefit of not getting applications for new credit cards every day from the bank, your privacy is also more secure because signing up for the Do Not Mail List will prevent banks, insurance companies, etc from accessing your credit report to send you offers in the first place.

To drive the point home, here some astonishing environmental facts on the junk mail issue:

• 44 percent of junk mail is thrown away unopened, but only half that much junk mail (22 percent) is recycled.
• The average American household receives unsolicited junk mail equal to 1.5 trees every year — more than 100 million trees for all U.S. households combined.
• Americans pay $370 million annually to dispose of junk mail that doesn’t get recycled.
• On average, Americans spend 8 months opening junk mail in the course of their lives.
• 5.6 million tons of catalogs and other direct mail advertisements end up in U.S. landfills annually.

Connect with Nature
What better way to celebrate Earth Day 2012 than connecting with nature?

It’s as easy as going on a hike or getting your hands dirty in the backyard (if you have one).

Even if you don’t have a backyard, joining a community garden has never been so easy.

• You can start your own garden in the backyard.
• You can join a community garden.
• You can make sure to save seeds for the future.
• You can beautify a blighted public space with a guerrilla garden…be sure to check out our guerrilla gardening tips before doing this.
• You can visit a food forest for part of the day, but if one doesn’t exist in your area, get together with neighbors and decide on where to start one.

There are so many things we can all do to honor Earth Day 2012. Let us know what you did or will do…we’d be happy to hear how YOU are saving the world.

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Steve Allen (19 Posts)

Steve is a freelance writer in Portland, Oregon and loves covering topics centered on Oregon. He is constantly tweeting the latest news in the Portland region and is a welcome contributor to The Environmental Blog.

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