By Grace Maselli
Earth Day. It’s an annual event that got kicked off in 1970. It’s a happening that beseeches us all to recognize our one-and-only precious planet beyond a single day. It’s an annual recognition that aims to appeal to our sense of community interconnection (think timebanking values!) and even small daily actions that can be taken by each of us to protect our faltering Big Blue Marble in the face of human-driven climate change and its dire and associated challenges.
Do One Small Thing to Make an Environmentally Positive Difference
Like EarthDay.org says, “As an individual, you yield real power and influence as a consumer, a voter, and a member of a community that can unite for change.” This can begin with small acts of environmentalism. For instance:
• Get on board with the #2minutesolution and spend two minutes a week collecting litter and recycling as much as possible
• Try eating one meat-free meal a week to lower the carbon emission associated with industrial livestock production to feed the 7.9 billion people on our planet
• Aim to go paperless: read the digital editions of your faves (magazines or newspapers), snap a pic of a poster instead of grabbing paper or a leaflet
• Conserve water and turn off the tap when you’re brushing your teeth
• Say no to single-use plastic water bottles whenever possible
• And if it’s realistic, take public transit or car pool—or better yet, walk to a store (the latter is a carbon-neutral activity and you’ll get some exercise to boot!)
Recently our community came together to help avid gardener and timebanker Richard Silverman—a disabled senior—in the Indian Rocks area of Largo, FL. Richard was being threatened with a two-week eviction notice from his trailer park after many years of residency if he did not remove his lush garden and glorious multitude of plants. Timebankers from far and wide across the Tampa Bay area came to the rescue, hoisting plants onto the backs of trucks and in cars and giving the green beauties new homes in yards and gardens, sustaining photosynthesis and helping a fellow human being to breathe more easily. It was a beautiful thing.
Take It A Step Further
Readers can also consider joining the EarthDay.com movement and find out about related events in their local area by visiting the event map here. Think too about boosting your environmental education by trying your hand at one or more of eight Earth Day quizzes: Upcycled Foods, Whale Conservation, Protect Our Species, Climate Change, Oceans and Plastic Pollution, Environmental Literacy, Deforestation and Biodiversity, and Clean Energy.
And if you want more, check out Sierra Club’s and Friends of the Earth United States’, “What World Leaders Can Learn from India and Global Grassroots Calls for Climate Action,” part of President Biden’s summit kick off that brings together world leaders to discuss global efforts to combat climate change. You can also jump into the action at EarthDay Live 2021!
