How to Make Every Day Earth Day
Earth Day started in 1970 as a way to bring attention to the needs of the environment, and the lack of any regulation to protect it. This was back when thick pollution from leaded gas caused smog and health issues. When factories could dump toxic waste in a nearby river without any consequences for their actions.
There was no EPA, no Clean Air Act, no Clean Water Act. In fact, there were no legal or regulatory methods of protecting the environment and ensuring our safety in it. After 20 million Americans demonstrated across the nation, that first Earth Day in 1970 led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). While it’s not a federally recognized holiday, Earth Day is a national holiday that is widely celebrated every year since.
Many commemorate the day with environmentally friendly activities like cleaning up trash in local areas or planting trees. Earth Day also includes education and spreading awareness about how to make everyday environmentally conscious choices. Learn more about what Oransi is doing for Earth Day from reshoring our manufacturing efforts to building a remote team that minimizes employees who have to commute to work.
Protecting the Earth is important for obvious reasons. We’re already seeing the effects of climate change in more frequent natural disasters across the globe. While we as individuals can’t make much of a difference in worldwide pollution, the majority of the pollution blame is placed on corporations, there are still things we can do to contribute and keep the spirit of that first Earth Day alive.
Limit Single-Use Items
Reduce, reuse, and recycle is a common saying regarding environmentally friendly choices. It’s essential to recycle materials that can be, but it’s even better to avoid throwing away these products at all. Instead of throwing away products, try to reuse them if at all possible.
Use totes at the grocery store instead of plastic bags. Avoid plastic water bottles and opt for reusable ones that you can refill. Use a reusable travel coffee thermos instead of one-time paper cups. Many coffee shops will make your drink in reusable cups instead of disposable cups if you ask. Go paperless when possible like setting up electronic bank statements. Swap zip top plastic baggie for washable, reusable ones.
Cutting back on trash, especially harmful materials like plastic, is a great example of how making little changes in your life can help the environment.
Be Conscious Of Fashion Choices
“Fast fashion” is a buzzword that has been appearing recently in the sustainability discussion. Fast fashion is the corporate approach to producing inexpensive and trendy options for customers, which sounds great on the surface, but there’s real environmental harm lurking in this market.
The production of mass amounts of clothing in cheaper materials like viscose and microplastics are harmful because they can't biodegrade like cotton can. Using these materials also lowers the clothing quality meaning they’ll likely be in landfills earlier. Though we can’t control the fashion industry we can make it a priority to take care of our clothing to make it last as long as it can. We can also be mindful of how much clothing we purchase and keep our items longer instead of ditching them the second they’re no longer trendy. Thrifting, upcycling, and finding second-hand items when possible has gotten extremely popular, and extremely easy, to do.
Use Energy Star Appliances
Reducing energy consumption is another change you can make in your daily life to help the environment. There are certain appliances that are certified ENERGY STAR®. ENERGY STAR® is a program run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy that promotes energy efficiency by certifying a product as energy efficient.
Purchasing ENERGY STAR® certified products, like Oransi’s mod air purifier, ensures that you’re not spending more on electricity and plugging in products that require more energy than other, similar appliances. Purchasing ENERGY STAR® certified products helps the environment and your electricity bill!
Invest In A Trash Compactor
The less trash that ends up in landfills the better. Having a trash compactor helps to reduce the amount of waste in your household. This device will compact your trash making the room your waste takes up in landfills smaller.
Composting is another option to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. Composting biodegradable materials and turning them into fertilizer helps the environment and saves you money on landscaping needs if you’re a green thumb!
Cut Back On Driving
We all know that automobile emissions contribute to air pollution and harm the environment. Cutting back on driving is an excellent approach to avoid contributing to automobile emissions.
Choosing to bike when possible, riding public transportation, or carpooling cuts back on car emissions. Biking, using public transportation, and carpooling is a daily option available to many. Choosing these options over driving is a great way to make every day Earth Day.
Conserve Water
Excess amounts of water in production is another issue in the fast fashion industry that harms the environment. Conserving water is a great daily way to help the environment. Though we can’t make a difference like a corporation could on our conservation of water, it’s still important to keep in mind.
Overusing water while washing dishes, watering lawns, or even leaving the tap running adds up. Being aware of how much water you’re using and actively conserving water is an achievable daily goal.
Reduce Food Waste
Along with water, it’s important to ensure you’re reducing your food waste. Reducing overall food waste helps the environment in several ways. Methane emissions decrease with less food ending up in landfills. Fewer resources and energy are used to make less food meaning there is less pollution involved in the food making process. Growing, manufacturing, transporting, and selling food contribute to pollution.
It’s important to understand when your food actually expires and needs to be thrown out for safety and the nuanced differences between expiration date, best by date, and sell by date. Being aware of the date when your food does need to be thrown away and either making that food beforehand or donating to a local food bank if you’ve overbought is a great way to help be a more mindful consumer.
While we can’t control corporate pollution or wasteful friends or neighbors, there are little actions we can take every day to help create a bigger impact. Every little bit counts and most of these easy everyday activities have more than one benefit (like a lower power bill!) making every day feel like Earth Day even more appealing.
