It's the 50th EARTH DAY!


Wait! What is Earth Day and why do we celebrate it? Isn't EVERY day Earth Day? I mean, we live on Earth every day, so why isn't it Earth Day every single day? Well, technically, I supposed it should be every day.


You've learned about Earth Day before. We could go into the entire history of Earth Day, but that would be a LONG blog post. But did you know that this is the 50th anniversary of the celebration of Earth Day? I just learned that today!

Earth Day was initially started in 1970 to help bring awareness to people about air, land, and water pollution, chemicals, toxic dumps, and pesticide problems. Aren't we STILL talking about these things? Each year focuses on a special topic, and this year's focus is on Climate Action, or thinking about things we can each do to help affect the Earth's climate.

Most years, people gather together to plant trees, clean up rivers, beaches, and parks, and spread information about Earth Day. This year, we will be separate, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate Earth Day and consider ways we can personally help. Think about how you can tie in Habit 4: Think Win-Win with recognizing Earth Day. It's kind of easy, actually!

* How can you use your resources wisely?
* Do you turn off lights, TV, water, and other resources when not in use?
* Do you try to avoid wasting materials? (like right now, toilet paper is GOLD!)
* Do you and your family try to consolidate trips or take the fewest trips possible to conserve resources?
* Are you careful about waste at home? (Food waste, single-use items, trash, etc)

I know most of you can repeat the phrase, "Save the turtles." Do you know how? What does that even mean for you? Besides using fewer straws, what else can we each do to help the environment, reduce plastic pollution, clean up waterways, create less trash, and use fewer resources to help clean the air?

EarthDay.org has some great ideas that you can try to implement at home, and I plan to try some of these things with my family. I'm considering this a Win-Win all around. If we plant some seeds (away from my pesky squirrels), then we'll have some herbs and veggies to eat. If we plant native plants and flowers, we will attract more birds, bees, and butterflies to our yard. If we use fewer resources, we spend less money on water, electricity, and food bills. These are all good Win-Win scenarios, aren't they?

Tell me about what you plan to do or did to recognize Earth Day this year! Did you plant something? Clean up something? Make a plan to use fewer resources? How are you helping?

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