5 Small Changes You Can Make Today To Help Save Our Planet

Did you know that April 22 is Earth Day? A day to celebrate this beautiful land we walk upon but also a great time to reflect about our own carbon footprint. But what can I do? Great question, read on for 5 small changes you can do that make a big impact.

1. Get out in your community and help clean up. A lot of communities now offer designated ‘clean up days’ where you or a team can get outside and clean up garbage that unfortunately has been tossed on the ground. Make it a little more interesting by setting goals for yourself or your teammates to see who can grab the most trash with a fun incentive for the winner.

2.  Create your own plastic bag ban. More and more places are declaring a ban on plastic bags. If where you live hasn’t taken the initiative to implement this yet, make your own plastic ban. Keep re-usable bags in your car and purse or participate in a borrow bag. For more information click here http://boomerangbags.org/.

3.  Stop purchasing plastic water bottles. What actually happens to plastic waste? Well for starters it never really goes away, it just breaks down into tiny pieces. Some of it may end up in landfills or recycling centers however a big portion ends up in our oceans, from simple littering to inefficient waste infrastructure. The key here is to act like the Boy Scout and BE PREPARED. Try and get in the habit of carrying your own reusable bottle. Mason jars are a great and in-expensive option.

4.  Love drinking from a straw? Drinking straws may not seem like a lot of plastic however hundreds of millions of straws are used daily. To put more in perspective that’s enough to fill 46, 400 school buses a year. Look into a more sustainable and cost effective option such as a stainless steel, bamboo, paper or glass straw and bring them with you when heading to a restaurant or coffee shop. Or simply go straw free.

5.  Re-think your toothbrush. We don’t want you to stop brushing your teeth just rethink the brush. Every year there are over 4.7 billion plastic toothbrushes dumped into our landfills and oceans that will never biodegrade. Luckily there are options. A great ecological alternative is using a bamboo toothbrush. Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. Because it contains naturally-occurring antimicrobial agents, there is no need for using fertilizers or pesticides during its cultivation making it a great eco-friendly option.

Our individual actions matter and the more steps we can do today the better it will be for our sons, daughters and grandchildren in the future. We would love to hear the daily actions you take to reduce your carbon footprint! Leave a comment below.