Earth Day is April 22, 2015. Read our tips for the best contributions you can make to help the environment!

1. Raise Awareness

Copyright Señor Codo

This doesn’t mean you need to start protesting oil drilling tomorrow- start by raising your own awareness this Earth Day.

• Try this free carbon footprint calculator to get an idea of how much fuel you use per year, directly or indirectly
• Watch some documentaries about climate change, food production, or other environmental issues like the disappearance of bees
  • 11 Netflix Documentaries That Will Change How You Think About the Planet
  • Top Documentary Films About the Environment
  • TED Talks About the Environment
  • There are many kid-friendly movies that are perfect for Earth Day, from the fascinating documentation of nature’s beauty in Microcosmos, to the dystopic vision of Earth’s potential future in WALL-E, to Dr. Suess’s whimsical telling of environmental collapse in The Lorax
• Bring a trash bag next time you take a walk, and pick up all the trash you see. Simply noticing how much litter fills our parks, forests, and roadsides can be a very eye-opening experience

2. Reuse and Recycle

• Recycle: If your neighborhood or apartment building already has a recycling program, great! Use it! Be sure to familiarize yourself with their rules regarding cleaning and separating recyclable materials, and follow them. If there is no recycling pick-up at your home, it’s a little harder to do, but worthwhile.
  • If you don’t know where your closest recycling center is, use this handy search tool to find out
  • Make sure to clean food particles out your recycling so it can actually be used
• Reuse: Directly reuse items as much as you can. This saves the time, money, and energy it takes to recycle materials.
  • Buy at secondhand shops
    • Clothing, appliances, furniture, bicycles, and more can be found at secondhand stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, or other thrift or consignment shops
      • Some of our gently used, vintage, and consignment stores in metro Atlanta include: Rag-O-Rama, Clothing Warehouse, Buffalo Exchange, Psycho Sisters, and Alexis Suitcase, just to name a few
    • Learning some basic sewing skills can help you alter used clothing to fit you better. Secondhand shopping is really fun once you start creatively customizing your finds!
  • Use both sides of paper. Print double-sided if possible. If not, don’t just print something single-sided and throw it out when you’re done- flip it over and use the back side for notes or printing on the back side for informal work
  • Get inspiration from the many websites that have creative ideas for repurposing things
    • 100 Ways to Repurpose Household Items
    • 50 Creative Ways to Upcycle Old Things
    • 63 Ideas for Reusing Disposable Household Items
    • 23 Creative Ways to Repurpose and Reuse Old Stuff

3. Use Less Water

Only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater, and 2% of that is frozen in glaciers. Water conservation can also save energy and reduce the amount of fresh water that is contaminated.

• Take shorter showers, especially instead of baths. Baths can use 50-60 gallons of water, while a short shower uses significantly less
• Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily. Each flush can take up to 6 gallons of water. If you need to throw something away, toss it in the trash can, not the toilet
• Wait until you have a full load to run the washing machine or dishwasher
• Turn off the faucet as you shave, brush your teeth, or wash dishes by hand

4. Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by a person, event, organization, or product. We are almost constantly contributing to our carbon footprint by using electricity, driving cars, running appliances, and more. Even when we don’t directly use up fuel, we indirectly contribute to greenhouse gases, for example, by buying commercially produced products. Anything that is manufactured took fuel to provide light, heat or air conditioning, and power to machinery as the product was made. If something is packaged, it took even more fuel to obtain raw materials, process it, and label it. Even unprocessed foods can have a large carbon footprint if they come from a distant location, as planes, trucks, and trains all require significant amounts of fuel.

To reduce your environmental impact, take as many small actions as you can on a daily basis, and encourage others to do the same. If many people start taking action, it can have a major impact on our environment.

• Hang dry clothes. This saves money, electricity, and the lifespan of your clothing. Clothing won’t shrink, pill, or get discolored as quickly as it does when sent through the dryer each time it’s washed
• Drive less. Easier said than done in sprawling Atlanta, but it can help. Whenever possible, walk, bike, or take public transportation. You can also try to batch errands, so you only make one driving trip to hit multiple stores
• Eat responsibly.
  • Buy local food as much as possible, especially from farmers that use organic or all-natural growing practices. If a local farm isn’t certified organic, make an effort to talk to the farmers about their growing practices; they may still use the same practices that are required for USDA certification
  • Reduce your consumption of animal products. This topic requires more than one bulletpoint to explain, but to sum it up, raising animals for dairy, eggs, and especially meat, is an incredibly inefficient process. It requires massive amounts of water, fuel, land, and energy, to produce far less food than could be produced in plant-based food with the same amount of resources. This doesn’t mean you need to turn into a strict vegan overnight if you aren’t ready to. Instead, try making one day a week or one meal a day completely meatless. If you are already vegetarian or consume few animal products, try making some meals completely vegan
• Use sustainable utensils.
  • Reusable utensils (made from bamboo, metal, or other materials), travel mugs, and water bottles will significantly reduce the amount of waste you produce. You can even start bringing your own tupperware to restaurants to take home leftovers
  • Use fewer paper napkins. Simply take one instead of three next time you’re at a restaurant. Throw extra napkins into your bag or car so you have some on hand. While at home, you can switch to cloth napkins and use dish towels instead of paper towels to dry hands or dishes
  • Use a water filter instead of drinking bottled water. Filters like the Ecoflo water filter will give you clean, pure water and save the waste of single-use plastic bottles

5. Plant Something

While many of these tips are about doing less of something, this one is about doing more! Make a positive contribution to our planet by planting something. If you have yard space, start a home garden and grow some vegetables. You can’t get more local than that! If you only have a tiny amount of space, get creative. Try a vertical garden, container garden on your patio, or getting some house plants.

If you have space in your yard or neighborhood, plant a tree. It could be a great way to get your neighborhood together and help make it greener. Even if you can’t plant a tree right next to your house, volunteer with local organization Trees Atlanta. They make amazing contributions to our city with their education, planting, and preservation projects.