May 1, 2023

Earth Day, Every Day

By: Kelvey Vander Hart

Earth Week 2023 has come and gone. If your Earth Week was anything like mine, your social media feeds were flooded with environmental content and your local area had plenty of green events. You may have even gone out of your way to do something good for the planet that you don’t usually do, like planting a tree. Earth Day (and the Earth Week it has expanded into) is a great thing, but what’s even better is that we don’t have to wait for it to come around to take pro-planet steps forward. 

We can have Earth Day, every day. 

Earth Day is a celebration and acknowledgement of our planet. And that’s a good thing, but it’s only once a year. Shouldn’t something as important as the planet we live on be a bigger focus in our lives all year? 

That might sound exhausting. “Do you mean I have to go plant a tree every single day and post something to Instagram about it?” No. But you can capture the heart of Earth Day in your daily life. 

Jane Goodall once said, “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make.”

So what kind of difference do you want to make for the planet? 

Are you convicted about the amount of garbage your household creates? Maybe living Earth Day every day looks like actively trying to reduce that amount. Turning to reusable containers, eating in restaurants instead of ordering takeout, and looking for minimal packaging in the grocery store are all great ways to work toward this goal. 

Concerned about your carbon footprint? Maybe you use an app like Klima to help offset some of your carbon emissions by funding carbon sequestration projects. Maybe you start driving less, taking meat off your plate for some meals, and saying no to fast fashion as much as possible. 

Any concern that leads to you taking positive strides forward for the environment is one that captures the heart of Earth Day in your daily life. Our daily habits are much more impactful than our annual celebrations. What would our world look like if we all started living like Earth Day was happening every day? I would love to find out.