8 Ways to Celebrate Earth Week 2018
Tuesday, April 2, 2018
By: Mary Godnick - Adirondack Council Marketing and Fund Development Assistant
Monday, April 16 marks the start of Earth Week, a weeklong celebration of our earth that ends with Earth Day on April 22. While every day is “Earth Day” and “Adirondacks Day” at the Council, Earth Week is a special time to remind ourselves of what we can all do to help the planet.
Earth Day began in 1970 when Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, had the idea to channel the anti-war energy generated by young people into awareness of air and water pollution to get environmental issues on the national agenda. In the first year, 20 million people across the country rallied for the environment. Earth Day enlisted rare support from people of all political backgrounds and eventually inspired the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. Earth Day was eventually expanded to Earth Week so that a broader range of environmental issues and programs could be put into action.
8 Things YOU can do to help the Adirondacks and the planet this Earth Week:
Photo: Jamie McGiver
- Go outside! One of the best ways to remind yourself and teach your family why protecting our earth is important is to spend time in nature. Go for a walk, spend time in your garden, play in the park, or explore a new trail near you. The NYS Departmennt Environmental Conservation provides a great list of local parks and trails on their website here.
- Call your Congressional Representative and US Senators and let them know what issues are most important to you. You can look up their contact info at govtrack.com.
- Go on a trash treasure hunt. Want to have an immediate impact today? Step outside and gather any litter you can find. Help keep trash out of our water bodies, away from wildlife, and keep our trails, streets, and communities beautiful.
- Purchase an Adirondack Council Carbon Certificate for a loved one. For each $25 certificate purchased, the Council will retire one carbon allowance (worth one ton of pollution) from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The proceeds of these certificate sales are used two ways: to buy more allowances and to help replenish the Cool Farms/Healthy Park micro-grants fund. You can purchase your carbon certificate here.
- Go reusable! The average American uses about 167 water bottles a year. We are partial to our BPA free Nalgene water bottles. Trust us, they are virtually indestructible!
- Say "no thank you" to single-use plastic straws, bags, cups, napkins, and freebies that you don't need. In the United States alone, we use 500 million disposable straws every day.
- Support local farms and small businesses by investing in their success with your dollars. We are lucky in the Adirondacks to have so many farmers markets, CSA’s and shops that sell local groceries and goods. For a full
list of Adirondack farmers markets, visit the Adirondack Harvest website. - Stay informed on Adirondack issues and sign up for action alerts. When issues arise that need action from people that love the Adirondacks, we will let you know via email and provide you with the right tools to make a difference. Sign up for action alerts here.
The final thing you can do to help support Adirondack Conservation is to share this post! Sharing information during Earth Week is an easy and free way that you can help spread the word about environmental issues that you care about. Please share this post on Facebook, Twitter, or in an email with three friends to help support Earth Week!
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