My Week on Wednesday and Earth Day

You have probably figured out by now that today is Earth Day! It’s a day when the entire world gets together to celebrate the Earth and to concentrate on taking care of the planet we live on. Personally, I believe that every day should be Earth Day, so here are some great ideas, tips and tricks from my friends over at the Homestead Bloggers Network, and some of my other favorite bloggers to get you started on being a better caretaker for our beautiful planet!

Go Green for Earth Day and Forever

Sometimes going green can involve great big huge steps — friends of ours, for example, recently installed solar panels on their roof! — but there are dozens of things that you can do right this minute that will make a difference! As a not entirely random example, are their lights on in rooms you are not using? Are their lights on that, maybe, you don’t need anymore because the sun is fully up?

Let’s all go check right now. See you in a minute!

See? That wasn’t hard! And just think the difference we could make if everyone did just a few of these little steps every day. And then next week added a couple more! Here are some more ideas:

Earth Day: Small Steps to Big Change from The 104 Homestead

Zero to Green in 20 Easy Steps from Coastal Homestead

66 Small Changes to Make a Big Difference from Attainable Sustainable

5 Easy Steps to Start Living a Little Greener from Urban Naturale

15 Things to Start on Earth Day from Feathers in the Woods

50 Shades of Green for Your Sex Life from Eco-Mothering — Yup. Be eco-friendly in your entire life!

10 Ways to Go Green from My Merry Messy Life

10 Easy Things you can do Right Now to be More Eco-Friendly from Musings of a Modern Hippie — Yes, they really are easy! Plus they cost nothing AND will probably wind up saving you money besides!

6 Things you can do to Celebrate Earth Day (and Save Some Green!) from Common Sense Home

10 Selfish Reasons to Protect Biodiversity from One Acre Farm —

More Green Ideas

Ditch the Nasty Chemical Cleaners

Learn to Compost

Start Line Drying Your Clothes

Switch to Cloth Diapers. While you’re at it, start using cloth napkins, switch to Unpaper Towels, or just use cheap washcloths!

Send a nice (or a not-so-nice) Earth Day Card to your elected officials, friends, and family with these Free Printable Earth Day Cards!

Don’t Waste Food! I know, it sounds simple and idiot-proof… but 40% of the food in the US is wasted! This post is awesome, and quite frankly, a little horrifying, and full of great ideas to keep food from being wasted.

Earth-Friendly Activities for Kids

Repurposed Crafts for Earth Day from Mom Prepares

7 Things you can do to Raise Eco-Friendly Children from Urban Naturale

7 Child and Eco-Friendly Activities to Honor the Earth from Hybrid Rasta Mama

Follow a Tree from Aquaberry Bliss –You certainly don’t have to be a kid to do this! But I think it would make an awesome, educational activity for young people

Read Green Books

These are books that we personally love and have in our collection. Of course there are tons of other wonderful Earth Day books out there!

Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver — Not only is the book itself green, I found it to be a very earthy, take care of the planet, take care of yourself sort of book. I think it’s kind of perfect for Earth Day

And for the kids:

The Last Wild Witch: An Eco-Fable for Kids and Other Free Spirits by Starhawk — From the cover: “In the very heart of the last magic forest lived the last wild Witch… This is the story of how the children of the perfect town let a little wildness get inside of them, found their joy and courage, and saved the last wild Witch and the last magic forest from disappearing.” The book is a little long for the youngest listeners, but well worth the effort. And beautifully illustrated!

Earth Mother by Ellen Jackson — A beautiful story about how everything is interconnected. Bonus: The illustrations have a distinct African feel to them and this version of Mother Earth is a beautiful Black woman. Unfortunately this book seems to be out of print; we bought our copy used.

A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry — This is the story of the Nashua River and the people who have lived beside it. At first the people took care of the river and the plants and animals that lived there… but as more and more people came, and the Industrial Revolution happened, the river became more and more polluted and the animals died or went away. Then some people got together to make the Nashua River beautiful again!

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss — The Lorax. What else is there to say? This book is awesome! But don’t forget about the movie! It is awesome, too!

And now...

Quote of the Week

Approximately daily, I post quotes on my Facebook Page. The quote with the most likes, shares, and comments will become the Quote of the Week. Be sure to “like” my page so you don’t miss any, and so you can make your favorites known!

I put this quote up for Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, but, of course, Anne Frank’s words are timeless… and equally appropriate to Earth Day. Don’t you agree?