Make Every Day Earth Day

As "Earth Day" weekend comes to a close, I decided to make a list of my favorite, and easiest earth day tips. The video above inspired me tremendously to cut back on creating waste. I also recommend reading Bea Johnson's most recent blog: LESS is so much MORE.

1. Recycle!

I loooove recycling! I always look at packaging to find that comforting little triangle. It's one of the easiest things you can do (besides turning off appliances and lights and tvs when they're not in use). I know some cities don't have people to come around and collect recycling from homes. And this can deter lots of people from recycling!

But let me say this, 1/2 my life, we had to drive our bags of recyclables to a recycling center that was always 15 minutes out of our way. But seriously, this is one of the easiest things you can do to make a BIG difference. The extra x amount of minutes out of your way is worth it for the Earth! To find your nearest recycling center, simply type into your search engine: "find nearest recycling center". For CA residents, go here.

2. Reuse!

My husband and I are daily coffee/tea drinkers. We have our favorite spot in our neighborhood where we always get our bevies 'to go'. Even though we threw these paper cups into the recycling, it was shocking how fast our can would fill up with them.

Just recently we've invested in a few really good, reusable hot beverage containers. One of my favorites are these Aladdin Coffee Mugs.
Made of 97% recycled materials, BPA free, and microwave & dishwasher safe! You can find them here.

I've also gotten into the reusable grocery bags. Or reusing any kind of bag to put groceries into. Bringing tupperware containers with you when you go shopping is also a great way to reduce plastic waste.
My favorite kind to use are these glass lock containers. They really keep things air tight, and the glass is so easy to throw in the dishwasher and clean. You can find them here.

3. Cut back on eating meat and/or only eating Organic foods.
Even though I'm already a vegetarian, I picked up Alicia Silverstone's super inspiring, informative, and easy-to-read book, "The Kind Diet". She talks about how awful animal factories are--not only for the animals themselves--but also for the planet.

Fact: One of the main gases that contributes to global warming is Methane. Methane traps 21 times more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide. And get this, the livestock we keep--to feed us meat that has negative affects on our bodies--produce more methane than landfills, waste treatment plants, and even the methane we use as natural gas to heat our homes! There's some food for thought...

Check out Alicia's brilliant website: www.thekindlife.com

4. Composting
This is something I've been meaning to for a while! The composter pictured above looks like the Mercedes of composters. I want it!

We have not started composting as of yet. However, I realized that Mike and I were taking out our trash almost every 2 or 3 days, because our kitchen would get so stinky with old food and garbage. But I felt so guilty throwing so many of those big plastic bags into the dumpster every week. Now we keep a little bucket next to the sink where we throw all our food stuff. When it gets full, we take it out to our dumpster and toss all the contents in there. Since we've been doing that, our trash can doesn't get full (or stinky) for a good 2 weeks!

Here is a great article on how to start composting.

5. Make it fun!

Mike and I now have a game/competition. We both can sometimes be really lazy about turning off lights around the house. So for every light that one of us finds left on by the other, that person gets a point. At the end of the month, we tally up our points, and whoever lost has to take the other one out on a date.

I know these aren't huge revolutionary new ideas on how to cut down waste. These are just some small, really easy things that anyone can do daily. And in time, it all adds up and really does make a difference.

Here's to a healthier, loving, and compassionate Earth!

love,
p. ahn