What to do for Earth Day 2022

Celebrated every year on April 22, Earth Day is coming up fast and with this year's day being on a Friday, it'll be popular to kick off an entire weekend celebrating the globe.

The unique holiday of Earth Day began in the United States in 1970 after a massive environmental movement. By 1990, well over 140 countries had joined in taking this day to hit pause on the normal way of business. The international community agreed to use this day (here the weekend) to consider just how much routine activities negatively impact the environment and what small changes in habits each citizen can make to change the world.

At a loss of where to begin with celebrating Earth Day? Consider the following easy things you can do to be more environmentally friendly for a more global impact. You might just find these changes so easy that you'll want to take them from being a one-day event to a new hobby and way of being.

Five Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

1. Plant a Tree

Plants are an incredibly valuable asset to our lives and the lives of every other living organism on the planet. Trees help uniquely serve as one of the earth's respiratory systems as they absorb carbon dioxide and release the life-sustaining oxygen so many beings need to survive. Trees also provide critical habitats for animals like bird and insect species, many of which also use trees as a food source. In some biomes, trees also serve as critical temperature controls; providing some animals with warmth in the winter due to their wide boughs (evergreens) and shade and coolness in the summer.

Unfortunately, the critical benefit of trees is not always so readily understood. Every year, 15 billion trees are cut down worldwide, a good portion of which will be permanent, such as the current deforestation occurring in the Amazon Rainforest. The good news is that thanks to the aforementioned United States' environmental movement as well as new regulations and market adjustments, this country is helping to turn things around in terms of what is lost and what is gained. It is currently estimated that every year in the United States, about 900 million trees are cut down for use by the logging industry, and nearly 2.5 billion are planted in their place.

Those are some fantastic repopulation numbers! But it has taken a lot of effort to get there and much of this type of reforestation takes place away from large urban centers. One way you can both celebrate Earth Day and promote restorative environmental justice is to plant trees in your neighborhood and within heavy urban areas. Start with this Nature article and this NPR interview for a more detailed look at why planting trees is good for the environment and necessary for equality.

2. Switch All of Your Bills & Paper Mail to E-Mail

Speaking of the trees, one way to help reduce how many trees are cut down every year (and to help reduce overall gas consumption) is to stop paper mail where possible. Don't think that junk mail adds up? Consider that one year of incoming mail for the average American household equates to 300 pounds of carbon emissions, which in and of itself equates to you driving 200 unnecessary miles. The cost adds up.

The good news is that there is an easy way to resolve that unnecessary mail. A simple thing that you can do this Earth Day to reduce your carbon footprint and clear out the ongoing junk entering your home is to switch to e-mail messages, online bill paying and receipts, and sign up for any relevant apps so that you can get all the information you need directly into your hands without the physical waste of paper. Most institutions today won't just let you sign up for e-bills and receipts, they'll offer incentives to do so! Many institutions encourage online bill paying with discount rates as they likewise don't want to incur costs associated with mail.

3. Say No to Single Serve Drinks (and other common plastic items)

First things first, we must acknowledge that plastic is a wonderful creation that has helped society leap forward in just about every industry. From medical innovations that save lives to technological innovations that have enabled us to reach the stars; we wouldn't be where we are today without plastic

However, plastic also has a dark side. Only an estimated 9% of all the plastic that has ever been created has been recycled, while the vast majority of created plastics, 60%, has been discarded into the oceans and landfills where it will remain for thousands upon thousands of years. During this process, parts of plastic will transform into microplastics which leach and contaminate drinking supplies and food. So while we do need plastics in our society, there is an importance to being mindful of what type of plastics we use and which we do not. One way to celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd is to make a change to being more mindful of such and to say no more single-use plastic bottles

Single-use water bottles are often cited as the worst offenders in terms of wasted plastic resources as not only are they so easily disposable, but there are also the inherent quandaries of bottled water itself. However, all types of single-use plastics are inherently non-environmentally friendly, and all have other solutions. You don't have to just buy your soda, tea, and other drinks in single-use bottles. You can get these items in larger containers, make some from other sources (such as tea bags), or carry a more permanent cup around you to use at soda and similar drink fountains. Use Earth Day as a day to go shopping to find that perfect cup or mug and make that lifestyle change to drop single-use plastics this year.

4. Green Up Your Garden

Planting trees is an excellent start to celebrating Earth Day, but why stop there when there are at least a half dozen other ways you can green up your outdoor space? Creating a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable backyard is a fantastic way to improve your community's biome as well as reduce your carbon footprint. Plus, there are the benefits of attracting more butterflies and birds to your yard and overall creating a haven you'd be more excited to hang out in.

This Earth Day is a great time to make garden changes as it does take place on a weekend, so you'll have plenty of time to dedicate to some solid yard plans. A few good ideas to get you started include:

• Begin a compost pile. This is not going to be possible in all residential areas, but if you are able to start a compost pile, you should. Compost piles allow organic wastes to naturally dispose and enrich the soil, rather than become piled in massive landfills that hamper the natural decompensation processes. A compost pile doesn't take much effort, and it can return back to you outstanding fertilizer for your plants and garden.
• Collect rainwater. Harvesting rainwater for use in your garden is an excellent way to reduce your overall water usage, and it can help to lower your carbon footprint.
• Swap out green grass for more natural ground cover. In the vast majority of places, lawns of green grass are not natural. Green grass and all of the efforts that must be undertaken to keep that grass green (fertilizer, constant watering, and repeated mowing with gasoline mowers) make lawns very un-green. Where possible, consider swapping your grassy lawn, or at least part of it, for ground cover that is native to your biome. Native ground cover is low maintenance and beautiful.
• Seriously, don't forget to plant that tree! Trees can collectively help to reduce a city's temperature by upwards of 10 degrees! They also can help attract birds and all of the other outstanding benefits we've listed above. So when you start to transform your yard, don't forget that above number one tip and plant a tree!

5. Go Car-Free With Biking

Of all the things the average American does on a daily basis, no other one thing is more singularly damaging to the environment as personal driving. Drilling for gas damages the environment. Refining gas damages the environment. Getting that gas to your local gas station damages the environment. And finally, driving about town and country damages the environment.

The most notable way personal driving is bad for the environment is with carbon emissions. For every mile that is driven, nearly one pound of carbon dioxide enters the air, overloading the local biome and contributing to global warming. But there are also ancillary ways in which driving is harmful, such as increasing the need for more roads and traffic-centered infrastructure like parking lots which take away from much-needed green spaces.

With so many bad things that arise with driving, it is easy to see how simply choosing not to drive is a fantastic way to be green and more environmentally conscious. Unfortunately, unless you live in a well-planned American city, most in the United States will find that going completely car-free is not possible. This is especially true for larger families with a lot of different destination needs. But just because you can't nix driving altogether doesn't mean you can't still make an impact. Every trip you choose walking or biking over driving makes an impact. Not only will you be expending less carbon dioxide, but there are so many fantastic side benefits that include:

• Better mental and physical health. Fun fact: did you know that riding a bicycle is the single most efficient method of travel? Even more energy-efficient than walking? This is because the way bicycles' mechanical advantage is set up, you will expend less physical energy (calories and carbs) and no outside energy (oil or gas -- hello Earth Day!) than any other method. That said, you will still enjoy key physical benefits of pedaling, same too if you opt for an electric bike. Additionally, there are the proven mental benefits being outdoors and being active offer, as well as social benefits when you choose to bike with others.
• Better finance sense.The cost of buying and maintaining a quality bicycle, including a quality electric bicycle, was about 1 percent of the cost of buying and maintaining a vehicle before the pandemic. Today, with soaring gas prices and the inflated rise of both used and new vehicles' market values, bicycles are even more economically preferable in the short and long term.
• Better community. The more people who ride bikes in a given area, the more a community sees a need for bicycle infrastructure. Bicycle infrastructure centers greener, more versatile paths that can be used by more people. Additionally, the more people on bikes, the safer a neighborhood tends to get as cars are forced to drive slower and be more aware of others.

Remember, you don't have to try and do a complete transformation from car to bike in order to enjoy many of the benefits of being car-free. This is a big lifestyle switch, but one that starts with simply choosing to ride bikes a little more each week. Start making that change this year on Earth Day; celebrating it by enjoying one full day (maybe one full weekend?) without driving or riding in a vehicle.

Need a Bicycle? Visit Our Online Store at Sixthreezero

Are you ready to try out some of these ways to celebrate Earth Day? When it comes to going car-free, you will first need a quality bicycle -- which is something our team at sixthreezero can assist with!

Visit our sixthreezero website today to check out the great array of comfort-oriented bicycles we have that make riding easier, more enjoyable, and more comfortable than ever. We are so confident that our bikes will perfectly fit into our customers' lives that we even offer a special 365-Day Test Ride with available returns. So what are you waiting for? Order your next bicycled today and kickstart Earth Day in style!