Earth Day

Globe East, NASA's Visible Earth

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22nd every year. This year is it’s 39th anniversary, although it’s never taken much of a hold in Australia.

Unlike Earth Hour, it’s not a very focused campaign – people just do environmental stuff locally, with whatever theme they like. Because of this, it’s got quite a few detractors. They say that having one day a year to make your life more eco-friendly might have been a good idea back in the 70s, but these days we need to be going green every day. Grist Magazine has, for a bit of a joke, told everyone to Screw Earth Day.

And I see their point. We’re well past the stage of being able to just pop a bottle in the recycling bin and call it a day, we need to be making changes to our lifestyle. But what I like about Earth Day is all the articles that come out with great projects you can do to make your life greener. They’re a great resource, so I’ve collected some of my favourites below:

• Sustainable food ideas – if you’re a foodie, try one of these ideas from Mother Nature Network on Earth Day. My favourite is asking your coffee shop if they have organic or fair-trade coffee. If they don’t, ask them if they’ll consider it. It’s a small thing but could have a big impact if they make the switch.
• Green projects for you to build – Instructables rounds up their best eco-friendly projects for Earth Day. Find out how to build a solar thermal water heater for less than $5, or how to make your own bike trailer.
• Eco-crafts for the kids – Kaboose.com has some great craft projects you could do with your kids. I like the plastic-bottle terrarium and the milk-carton bird-feeder, and there’s some recommendations for books and movies as well.

If you try any of these, please leave a comment to let us know how it worked out!