Earth Day is just around the corner, but our planet deserves to be celebrated and protected all year round. Let’s express love for Earth by incorporating sustainable practices into our daily routines. We can nurture both ourselves and the planet with these easy, eco-friendly habits.
Get into gardening
Gardening can have many benefits for us and the surrounding environment. Through the process of photosynthesis, plants you grow in your garden can clean the air around them, while their roots can improve the health of the ground they’re planted in. Home gardens can also reduce your personal carbon footprint and guarantee you fresh produce. Make all the nutritious, healthy recipes you want with your very own fruit and veggies. Plus, all that sunshine you’ll be getting will no doubt brighten your mood. (Just remember to wear SPF!)
Compost!
Composting is nature’s recycling process. By transforming your leftover organic materials, such as food and plant waste, into compost, you create a valuable resource that offers numerous benefits for both people and the planet. Composting can reduce the amount of waste that will end up in landfills, therefore reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, it will improve the health of your soil and the growth of your home garden at no extra cost. Set aside a container on your kitchen counter to collect those food scraps and get to composting. If you live in an apartment or densely populated place without yard or garden space, your neighborhood may offer curbside composting.
Walk or bike when you can
One of the easiest ways to nurture our planet is to walk or bike whenever and wherever you can. A passenger vehicle can emit around 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually. While you’re helping the Earth, you’re also getting the essential exercise you need. Get those steps in by walking to the grocery store or biking to work a couple days a week.
Go thrifting
Thrifting clothing helps the planet and your wallet. You may not realize it, but the fashion industry is the second-largest industrial polluter and generates over 92 million tons of waste per year. Instead of going to the mall, why not head over to your local thrift store and check out what it has to offer? You’d be surprised at what pre-loved goodies they hold. You may also want to join your neighborhood Buy Nothing group, where you can re-home items to a neighbor who will put them to good use or scoop up a neighbor’s gently used castoffs for free.
Buy “clean” beauty
Help your skin and the environment by moving towards clean beauty. Clean beauty refers to beauty brands/products that use fewer, or avoid, certain ingredients and preservatives and are sustainably produced. Be mindful next time you’re shopping and try to slowly incorporate clean products into your beauty routine.
As Earth Day approaches, remember that our planet deserves love every single day. By embracing eco-friendly practices in our daily lives, we can nurture both ourselves and our planet. Every small step we take makes an impact in creating a healthier world for ourselves.