Earth Day 2018

Happy Earth Day. Go plant a tree. Go pick up garbage from your neighborhood. Then recycle it. Do something to clean up our planet.  But shouldn't Earth Day be everyday. Shouldn't we as people of Earth, take care of our home every single day of the year. It is great that their is a day for everyone to think about it. I mean I love my birthday so that my family celebrates me. But shouldn't we be taking care of Earth everyday?

I am by no means an expert on this, but I do try. My daughter went to college for Wildlife Conservation. Over the years she has told us so many disturbing things that she has learned. We have watched many documentaries on the subject. If everyone does not start to do something about the cheap junk we are using everyday our kids and grandkids are going to have a worse problem then we do.

We are running out of room with all of the cheap crap that is being produced. One use items are making are land fills overflow.  There are actual islands just full of garbage. I do not want to look at garbage. I want to look at beautiful mountains.

So what am I doing to try to help? Here are some of the ways:

*I use reusable shopping bags when I go shopping
*I reuse plastic bags from items I buy, like hot dog buns, over and over again.
*I use reusable water cups and bottles for our drinks. No paper or plastic throwaways.
*I use reusable containers to take our food in.

*I recycle metal, glass and paper with my town.
*I recycle bottles and cans at the supermarket.
*I compost food scraps and grass clippings to reuse in my garden.
*I garden and have fruit trees and berry bushes.

*I don't use pesticides on my garden. I find natural ways to help my garden.
*My garden is on a timer and doesn't run if it rains.
*We get compost from our town compost facility.
*We use cloth napkins, and rags. We use brown paper for greasy foods.
*I wash Ziploc bags and use them sparingly.
*I finally gave up my disposable straw habit!
*We buy used.
*We mend, fix, repair, glue and duct tape items so that they last longer.
*We borrow and lend items so that we can share items with friends and family.
*We use our library so that we don't have to buy books, CDs and DVDs that will eventually end up in landfills.

*I hang my laundry to dry.
*I watch our water usage. Leftover water in cups to goes to the dogs or plants.
*We use a cup when brushing our teeth and don't let the water run.
*We do without.
*We use things for other tasks to prolong their life like toothbrushes.
*We reduce food waste.
*We pick up garbage when we go for walks.
*We donate items that are still usable.

There are so many ways everyday that we can make a difference. If everyone bought more items used, the land fills would have less. If we all grew gardens, ate locally grown foods and in season foods, we wouldn't need everything trucked in. Small changes to our daily routines can make big changes. This is our home.  Lets take care of it.