OUR TOP 10
WAYS TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY FOR FREE!
HOW TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY FOR FREE
So you want to celebrate Earth Day this year but you’re not sure where to start.
We’ve got some great ideas for how you can take part and the best thing is they are all free!
Here are our top 10 ways to celebrate Earth Day for free…
1) Clean Up
Whether you want to focus on the area around your home, a local beauty spot or the nearest beach you can get out there and pick up some litter!
Everything you pick up and dispose of responsibly makes a big difference, it prevents them from ending up in our waterways and ultimately our oceans!
You don’t need any fancy equipment, a pair of protective gloves (such as gardening gloves) and some bin bags will do the trick.
The best thing about doing your own clean up is the warm, fuzzy feeling it gives you to know that you’ve done something great for our environment!
Thinking of doing your own clean up?
If you’re interested in doing your own litter picks or beach clean ups download our FREE Guide to Safe Litter Picking to help you stay safe and get the most out of your litter picking experience!
2) Save Water
Reduce your shower time on Earth Day – and every day after to make the biggest difference.
Every day it is estimated that 2,000,000,000 litres of water are ‘showered away’ in the UK alone.
That’s just from showers.
When you factor in baths, toilets, taps, washing machines etc the amount of water used every single day is staggering!
Here are 3 tops tips to help you save water for Earth Day and beyond:
- Reduce your shower time by just 1 minute to save 12-15 litres per shower.
- Turn the tap off whilst you brush your teeth to save 6 litres per minute.
- Fill the bath to 1 inch below the level you normally would to save an average of 5 litres for every bath.
For more water facts and tips check out the Waterwise website
3) Plant a Tree
If you have space in your garden why not plant a tree for Earth Day!
Ok, so this one isn’t strictly free!
But planting a tree is one of the best things you can do for the environment.
Not only do trees support a diverse range of wildlife they also remove the carbon from the air and produce the oxygen we breath – amazing!
Fun Fact:
Did you know that one Oak tree supports hundreds of different species of insect. Oak trees support more life than any other type of tree native to the UK and over 300 species of insect are completely dependent on Oak trees!
4) Start Composting
Composting is a great way to reduce the amount that you send to landfill and it’s great for your garden too.
Whilst most people recommend you get a composting bin it is possible to start composting without one.
You can create a stand alone compost heap (my grandad had one!)
The main benefits of composting are:
- Reducing landfill waste
- Adding nutrients to the soil
- Introducing valuable organisms to the soil. Including microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, and protozoa which decompose organic material.
- Recycles kitchen and garden waste.
- It’s good for the environment!
Give it a go!
5) Catch Rainwater
You don’t need anything fancy to start collecting rain water just some kind of container.
You can use rain water to water your garden and pets love to drink rain water, they prefer it to the chlorinated water in our taps!
You can also use it to keep your new compost heap moist.
The two main advantages to collecting rainwater are:
Saving money – on your water bill, instead of paying to water your garden you have a free supply
Saving water – so on top of your water saving efforts from number 2 you’ll save even more water!
6) Encourage Wild Flowers/Plants
Leaving a patch of your garden to grow wild will encourage and help local pollinators thrive.
They are so important to our environment and everything we can do to help them is great.
If you wanted you could plant some native wild flower species in your garden for them.
We love these bee mix seed balls from Seedball – you can get 20% off all Seedball products when you become a member of Raising Earth – to take advantage of this saving JOIN US TODAY
7) Eat Less Meat
If you’re not a vegetarian or vegan then consider reducing the amount of meat you eat this Earth Day.
Even if you reduce your consumption on just one day per week you’ll help decrease the demand for meat products.
Switching one meal a week to a vegetarian option won’t make much difference to your daily life but if everyone in the UK did the same that would mean literally millions less meat products being consumed every week.
Imagine the impact that would have if everyone did the same globally!
8) Unsubscribe Emails
You may well be thinking ‘What?!’
I appreciate it sounds a little crazy but the storage of emails on servers all over the world uses an incredible amount of electricity and causes high levels of emissions.
All the way back in 2008 McAfee carried out a study and estimated that 62 trillion spam emails were sent that year – think how many must be sent today!
On average a spam email causes emissions equivalent to 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide per message. Times that by 62+ trillion and that is a lot of carbon dioxide produced just from unwanted emails.
So deleting those unread/unwanted emails and unsubscribing from email lists that you don’t engage with really can help the environment – I know what I’ll be doing this afternoon…
9) Walk, Run or Cycle
We all know that our cars aren’t great for the environment, even full electric cars have a negative impact.
Set yourself a challenge and go without using your car for the whole day.
Walk, run or cycle instead.
Not only will you help the environment but it’s great for you health and fitness levels too!
Get the kids involved and have fun!
10) Appreciate Nature
We’ve saved our best tip til last!
It literally costs nothing to take some time out and really appreciate the nature around you.
You don’t even have to go anywhere if you don’t want to.
You can do this anywhere – your garden, the park, the beach, in the forest, in the city.
Sit in your garden or even just open the window wide and take a deep breath.
Listen to the natural sounds, if you’re in a built up area you can still hear them you just have to filter out the man made noises.
Hear the birds, the bees and the wind in the trees!
Take time to appreciate the things we normally overlook and take for granted.
Remember that we wouldn’t be here without it – those trees provide the air we breath, the insects and creatures keep the world as we see it.
REMEMBER YOU CAN AND SHOULD DO THESE THINGS ALL YEAR ROUND - EARTH DAY IS A GREAT TIME TO START!
We hope you enjoyed our TOP 10 WAYS TO CELEBRATE EARTH DAY FOR FREE THIS YEAR If you feel that others could benefit from it please share this post on social media or forward to a friend!
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If you’d like to know more about how Earth Day started check out this post:
