10 Green Living Tips to Help You Celebrate Earth Day Today and Every Day!

Earth Day is April 22nd and, one of the main messages behind Earth Day is to take the new ideas and practices you learned about or used to celebrate Earth Day and engage in them all year long to help the planet even more.  Here are some of our favorite green living tips you can begin today to help you celebrate Earth Day Every Day all year long!

And for extra fun – check out our giveaway at the end ~ All you have to do is leave a comment to enter!

Plant an Organic Garden

Growing your own food is so rewarding.  Plus, it gets you outside in the fresh air, connecting directly with the earth.  Avoid using pesticides and purchase only organic seeds to be sure you’re not planting and eating inbred pesticides and other types of Genetically Modified aspects of some seeds these days.

Do you live in an apartment, or a rental property?  Look into community gardens in your area.  These neighborhood gardens beautify the area plus bring neighbors together and get everyone fresh, organic fruits and veggies to boot!

Support Local Farmers and Artisans

In addition to growing your own organic garden, try to purchase all those foods you aren’t growing for yourself from local farmers.  Try to find local artisans for your house wares and gifts too.  Not only will your purchases be unique, but, you’ll be supporting your own community as opposed to a huge corporation in who knows where sending your products using untold amounts of fuel and committing other environmental, human and/or animals rights offenses along the way.

Avoid GMOs

Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs are in nearly everything these days.  From seeds and food to personal care products, GMOs will be there unless you purchase organic and/or GMO Free products.  Given the scary consequences that have always existed and are playing out in reality today, GMOs honestly should be avoided at all costs.  And, companies, governmental officials and others that support GMOs should be boycotted to protect the natural plants and animals mother earth created; not Monsanto’s “patented” versions of “nature” they’re trying to force on us.

Choose Green Building Products and Methods

Time to make repairs on your home or office?  Choose green building methods to help tread more lightly on the planet.  Build your addition out of cordwood (like this shed on the right from cordwoodmasonry.com) or straw bales instead of lumber.  Paint your new office with low VOC, green paints, or even clay!  There are of course too many options to list here but be sure to do your research and complete your repairs, remodels, and new construction projects in a way that’s stylish and eco friendly!

Use Non Toxic Personal Care Products

Deodorant, shampoo, skin cleansers, moisturizers – they all get rubbed into the largest organ on your body.  Unfortunately, some serious chemical ingredients are often included in many name brand products and, with the labeling laws the way they currently are, you may not even know it.  To be safe, learn what ingredients to avoid and support personal care product manufacturers you can trust….like us!

Buy Second Hand

Buying clothing and housewares, as well as any other products you can second hand is a great way to help keep the planet green (and also avoid those corporations mentioned above!).  Every item you reuse is granted a new life.   You aren’t contributing to any unfair labor practices, nor adding toxins into the environment to grow the fiber, make the item, or ship it.  Plus, you usually end up saving quite a bit of money and, you may even be able to support a worthy cause as a result too!

And, remember, when you need to clean your closet or purge your possessions, try to donate any items that are in decent shape to your local second hand shops or your local community members via organizations like freecycle.  This keeps your items out of the land fill too and allows others to benefit from your good will as you’ve benefited from theirs.

Make your Own Cleaners

Walk down the cleaning isle in any major supermarket or drug store and there’s a certain, smell.  Many associate that with cleanliness, but, it should be associated with “toxic-ness”.  Those fragrances along with many of the other ingredients used in conventional cleaners from dish soap to laundry detergent are now understood to cause a myriad of issues for you and the planet.  Instead you can buy “green cleaners” or, to be certain you know what you’re cleaning with (and to save yourself some money!) you can make your own natural cleaners.

Switch to Alternative Energy

Many of our current energy sources here in the US and abroad are quite dirty.  Switching to alternative energy wherever possible in your life can make a great difference.  Ideas include installing solar panels, wind mills, or solar hot water systems.  If you’re unable to install alternative power sources at your home or office, check with your electricity provider and see if you can select power from an alternative source.  Many power companies offer this option for a slight increase, some have you paying less!  Also, whenever you can even use less energy, like remembering to turn off your lights, or carpooling is of great help too.

Go Vegetarian/Vegan

Eliminating meat and animal products from your diet is a huge help to both your own body and the entire planet!  Factory farming is a horrible institution that exploits animals and pollutes the planet.  If you’ve got to have meat, try to find locally raised meat and dairy products so you can know how the animals are treated.  Remember though – they generally refuse to let the public into slaughter houses, where even “humanely” raised animals go to be “processed”, and there’s a reason for that which ought to considered with our heads and our hearts.

Support Local and National Land Conservation Efforts

Last but definitely not least you can support the planet directly by donating your time and money to local and national land trust and conservation efforts.  While many locations have state and federal forests, these lands have many loopholes and often allow grazing, drilling and more.  When land is placed under a specific conservation easement or into a land trust on the other hand, it’s preserved for ever very clearly and with legal backing.  These organizations rely heavily on donations and volunteers though.  So, give what you can, where you can and help you planet stay green for you and generations to come.

Of course, this is just 10 of the many ways you can change your lifestyle to include the welfare of the planet!  We’d love to hear from you about what you’re doing to live a more eco friendly lifestyle.  Which item(s) from this list are you doing already?  Which one(s) inspired you to make some new changes in your life?  And, what green living tips would you like to share with others that weren’t mentioned here?  Just leave us a comment about how you celebrate earth day every day and you’ll instantly be entered into our giveaway where one lucky winner can choose one of the following prizes –

Plant a Vegetable Garden for a family via Oxfam International

Plant 50 Trees via Oxfam International

A $30 gift certificate for Sevani naural beauty products

Enter today – through midnight EST April 30th, 2013.  The winner will be announced May 1st here on the blog!  Best of luck to all and most importantly, we hope you all find ways to celebrate Earth Day today, and every day so we can protect the planet and all the plants and animals on it for many MANY generations to come.

 Our Giveaway is Closed and we’ve Chosen a Winner!  Thanks to all of you who entered – and Congrats to Will our Winner!!!