It is Earth Day, and although it seems as if our country’s government has decided to turn its back on the environment, fire federal employees empowered to care for the earth, and walk back regulations that protect people, plants, animals, and planet, we don’t have to despair. We are free to live into the life we want, to make at least our one small corner of the planet beautiful, to infuse our day with purpose and joy.
That’s what I want to offer you in this list: purpose and joy, and ultimately love.
I love this bright, strange, beautiful place, and I think you do too.
I spent four years writing about the good work being done around the country by average citizens who care about creation, and I learned a lot about the ordinary things we can do to save our extraordinary home.
It would be better if our leaders were systemically addressing these pressing issues as well, but even if they can’t, or don’t, or won’t, we can, and should, and, I believe, we will.
Over the last four years, I’ve been moved and changed by the efforts of my neighbors and fellow sojourners, compelled to make small adjustments in my day-to-day life to try to live in a way that honors the planet and all us people who rely on her to keep living. So I thought I’d make a list of some small ways I’ve learned we can do things a little bit differently, with purpose and joy, for the good of us and for the good of the Earth.
Maybe our individual effort feels like a tear drop in the ocean, but it is yet one more drop of water, collecting, colliding, and shaping the (rising) shoreline.
And collectively, that ocean of tear drops can change everything.
Without further ado, here are 53 ordinary things you can do to save our extraordinary home:
Compost your food scraps—the squirrels and deer and birds will thank you
Recycle your daily contact lenses and cases, switch to monthlies, or go back to glasses (Bausch & Lomb has a contact lens take-back program—ask your optometrist about it)
Switch to bar soaps for body wash
Switch to bar soaps for shampoo and conditioner (goodbye, plastic bottles!)1
Change your subscription service for household products from Amazon to Grove or other certified B Corps2
Recycle whatever your community allows you to recycle (new challenge! how little waste can you generate in a week? Be the lightest trash bin on the block!)
Take your conservation habits with you on vacation
Wear the clothes you own until they wear out
Buy gifts from your local gift shop
Buy meat from your local butcher
Buy produce from your local farmer
Eat foods with ingredient labels you can understand (or that have no ingredient label at all)
Use reusable shopping bags
Thrift for everything first before buying new—silverware, cups, plates, clothes, etc.
Use real plates, cups, and silverware as much as possible—they’re sturdier and more enjoyable anyway
Eat, share, or freeze your leftovers
Walk instead of drive
Bike instead of drive
Refill your water bottle instead of buying plastic bottles
Ladies, switch to sustainable period products3
Electrify whatever you can in your house
Give experiences instead of stuff
Switch to renewable energy sources for your power (Since we aren’t in a great place for solar panels, we signed up for Inspire Clean Energy, which allows you to choose a clean energy source from renewable energy companies)
Turn off the lights when you’re not in a room
Practice Meatless Mondays
Replace one meal a week with a seafood protein source (or what the heck? go full-on vegetarian!)
Use thrifted serving bowls instead of single-use Tupperware to deliver meals to friends
Try tree-free toilet paper instead of flushing our planet’s old growth and boreal forests4
While you’re at it, invest in a bidet. Your bootie will thank you.
Swap out plastic wrap for these nifty reusable and sustainable bowl covers from Bee’s Wrap
Leave the leaves in your landscaping
Plant more native plants
Gradually get rid of your lawn. Who needs grass anyway? So many hours mowing! So much fertilizer to make it grow just to keep cutting it!
Buy used furniture instead of cheaper new stuff that will probably break soon anyway
Bring back hand-me-downs! Cycle your kids’ clothes to kids a size below yours and freak out with delight when you see Dylan wearing that cute little coat your kid used to wear.
Eat produce that’s in season in your neck of the woods
Plant trees on your property (preferably native species)
Put in a birdbath and bird feeders
Turn off your outdoor lights and install motion detectors if you’re worried about security
Try laundry detergent sheets instead of those big plastic gallon containers of detergent (or get crunchy and make your own detergent)5
Grow your own windowpane herbs (and veggies if you can)
Take a picture of one beautiful thing a day
Spend time outdoors among growing things
Spend a second asking yourself, “Do I really need this?” before clicking Buy Now
Switch your investment portfolio to socially responsible investments (SRIs)6
Visit and walk around your local parks
Eat at independent and locally owned restaurants
Host a meal in your home with someone who doesn’t already live there once a month or more
Read some books, watch documentaries, and listen to some podcasts about creation and creation care (BioLogos is a great option; the archives of Root & Vine feature many books, stories, and movies on creation care too)
Say “thank you” for objects that appear and just exist in your universe (birds, trees, a cool cup of water, a breeze, etc.)
Put your feet in some body of water
Spend a minute watching the sunset
Spend another minute watching it rise again
What did I miss? What ordinary things are you doing today to save our extraordinary home?
“We care for only what we love. We love only what we know. We truly know only what we experience. If we do not know our place—know it in more than a passing, cursory way, know it intimately and personally—then we are destined to use and abuse it.”
―Steven Bouma-Prediger,For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care
B Corps are part of the nonprofit network transforming the global economy to benefit all people, communities, and the planet.
We’ve been using these Grove Lavender Sheets, which are fine, but I might try these Enzymatic Laundry Detergent Sheets to see if they work even better
Here are some other ways you can leave a leafy legacy
Share this post