HAPPY EARTH DAY EVERYONE!

Today, we celebrate the beautiful planet we live on! We’ve all been social distancing which means that everyone is home. All. The. Time. The car sits in the driveway. Air travel is much less frequent. Pollution is down, and the air quality is improving! Earth Day reminds us to be considerate of the environment and with recent improvements, we could make a difference in the future. So today, celebrate with us and go to earthday.org to check out live digital events to celebrate with others all around the world!

As we’re all forced to stay indoors, many countries have seen improvements in the quality of their environment. For example, in China, the emissions have dropped by 25% and the industrial use of coal has dropped by 40%. The same effects have been seen in other countries like Spain, the UK and Italy, and the USA. Even one of America’s largest and most populated cities, New York City, has reduced its carbon monoxide emissions by 50% since beginning social distancing. Experts studying the impact of the virus on the environment have predicted that if we continue to reduce emissions like this, it could result in a lasting positive impact on the environment. The point that will need to be even more careful around is when social distancing is declared over and the industries start back up again. Industries will have to find a way to consciously change their impact on the environment and will likely be held accountable for it, by customers or even as a legal requirement. 

Wondering why you have a place in all of this? Well, there are many things that you do on the daily that impact the environment. Making more conscious choices in these areas can seriously help save the world! Make some sustainable swaps! So much of the waste that we produce at home can be easily reduced by finding ways alternatives that are reusable. Here are a few examples:

Bring your own reusable bags when grocery shopping! These bags are often made out of canvas or nylon and can be purchased in countless designs. The nylon ones are often stain and spill-resistant as well, so no need to worry about using them for produce! This bag is available here for under $5!

When shopping in bulk, many stores encourage that you bring your own reusable containers or mason jars to fill up! Weighing your containers prior to checkout will also speed up the process because the cashier will likely ask so that they can weigh only the product inside and not charge you for the weight of your container as well! Here are some tips to help simplify this for you! Reusable containers like this one can be purchased at the dollar store, grocery store, or even Costco and often come in packs of 12 or 24!

Metal or silicone straws are extremely popular now and can be found in almost any colour or size you might need. Save the turtles! The rainbow stainless steel ones can be found here

Instead of plastic cling wrap, go for beeswax wrappers! They are all-natural, compostable and required very little maintenance, you can clean them by just rinsing with cold water. There are many independent businesses selling them on websites like Etsy and they come in any pattern and size you can think of. These wrappers are also great because they wrap a lot easier than cling wrap that statics to you. They can be found here on Etsy!

Recycle clothing a.k.a go thrifting! We all love a good find at the thrift store, you are probably already practicing sustainability by doing this without even knowing. Buying new from fast fashion stores (stores that produce mass amounts of cheap quality clothing) like Forever 21 creates a lot of waste. To produce one pair of jeans, we use 1800 gallons of water and the same amount of emissions that would be produced after driving over 80 miles. Then once produced, over 10 million tons of clothing ends up in landfills each year in the USA alone. Thrifting is essentially just recycling! Remember that to help stop this cycle, you should be donating your old clothes or handing them down to someone who can better use them instead of contributing to the landfill.  

Making these easy changes to your everyday life makes a positive impact on the environment and you will likely find you actually prefer these alternatives! Since humans are the source of these environmental issues, we have a responsibility to do our part to make a change and a better life for ourselves and others in the future.  

What better way to celebrate our beautiful planet than to add more life to it! Especially now that we’re all at home learning new skills, why not take your chef game to the next level and grow the food you use in your edible creations? There are so many different plants that you can grow on your windowsill until they grow too large and need to be planted outdoors, like tomatoes and basil. The easiest way to do start out is to buy a seed starter kit and follow the instructions provided in the kit! You’ll learn how to take care of these plants and it won’t be very difficult after you get started! The process of growing and nurturing a plant, then having delicious fresh vegetables and herbs to enjoy, is so rewarding and totally worth it in the end.

There are so many ways to take care of the Earth and to take better care of all the natural wonders it provides for us! We have been destroying our planet, and we’re the ones that suffer the consequences, so let’s build a better future before it gets here and we don’t have the ability to fix it anymore. So today, and EVERY day, remember the planet we live on!