5 Easy Ways to be Kinder to the Planet this Earth Month
Did you know that April is Earth Month!? I feel like we all know about Earth Day, and Plastic-Free July, but I don’t think most of us know that the entire month is April is devoted to being kinder to the planet! This is great timing in my opinion, given that we’re heading into gardening season & thinking about spring cleaning. If you’re like me, and you’re thinking about new ways you can be more eco-conscious, here are five of my personal favourite ways that we can be kinder to the planet during Earth Month!
Earth Day Tip No. 1
Start Composting
Composting is seriously, in my opinion, one of the best things you can learn to do, especially if you have a garden that you can put that compost into. Plus, it’s really not that complicated of a process – ensure you have greens (food waste, egg shells, etc.), browns (egg cartons, leaves, etc.) and good quality soil + maybe even some worms bred to compost, and you’ll have nutrient-rich soil to put back into your garden with a little bit of patience! Additionally, things that would “break down” in garbage dumps generally don’t because they don’t have access to these nutrients to help them actually break down, so this reduces the emissions of methane, which is obviously huge!
Earth Day Tip No. 2
Replace with Eco-Friendly Equivalents
I know it can be hard not to jump right into it, and believe me, this was a huge mistake I made at the beginning of my eco-conscious journey, but instead of replacing everything you already have with the environmentally-friendly version before you need to, slowly replace these things with those alternatives as you run out. This is especially helpful in the cleaning products category — plus, you’ll notice after switching to natural/naturally-scented cleaning products, the chemicals that scent regular products will start to bug you! At least, that’s what happened for me.
Earth Day Tip No. 3
Meatless Monday
I know this seems obvious, especially coming from someone who’s been vegetarian for over 10 years, but we’ve all heard about meatless Mondays before. However, did you know that if every American did meatless Monday, it’d save 3.5 animals per person for a whole year? I know that doesn’t sound like much, but when you consider that there are over 300 million Americans, that’s a LOT of animals! Not only is it great for the animals, but it also is amazing for the planet as factory farming causes a lot of environmental issues including excess methane, and a LOT of dumping waste into water ways (gross!)
Earth Day Tip No. 4
Meal Plan before Grocery Shopping
This is one that not only is good for the planet because it reduces food waste, but also good for your wallet! We all know that prices of groceries are obscenely out of hand, and we all hate wasting food, regardless, but it feels extra terrible when you paid 3 times the amount you did only a few short years ago. Plan out your meals including ingredients, and if you need to purchase perishable foods in larger amounts than you need for one dish, use it in another dish that you’ll eat that week! I must admit, this is one I’m still working on, and I’m definitely not perfect at; but, perfection isn’t what we’re aiming for, we’re aiming for positive change!
Earth Day Tip No. 5
You Don't Always Need the Latest Trendy Thing
Another thing that I still can struggle with, especially when it comes to tech items! Whether we’re talking about tech, fashion, beauty or anything in between, we ultimately don’t need the newest, latest things always. It seems like every 6 months, there’s a new hot water bottle (I’m looking at you, Stanley cups), and buying multiple reusable cups all the time goes against the point of having them in the first place.
What are some of your favourite ways to be more eco-friendly? Are you going to implement any of these tips into your everyday life? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!
