Celebrating Earth Day?

i reuse, recycle lots of things. i still don't "celebrate" earth day. and i am planting things most every day. i'm a gardener. i love the earth and i care for it EVERY day.

Earth Day is celebrated here in the Northwest. We have a fair at the local park with booths that both sell and educate.
And their is also the music and food.
Everyday 'should' be Earth Day, unfortunately we are still a culture aimed towards convenience and not responsibility.
It takes a bit of effort to REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE and a little is not enough.

I always thought I did pretty well by using cloth bags for groceries (25+ years now), recycling all my plastics and glass.
We do not get papers or magazines and buy bulk products in minimal packaging. But this past year I reviewed just
where we could improve.

I noticed all the large plastic gallon jugs sitting around and waiting for the recycle bin.
I realized the jugs are a petroleum byproduct, the transportation of them also uses petroleum....
since the largest weight of any of these gallon jugs is WATER; I decided to make my own... dish soap, laundry soap,
cleaning solutions, etc etc. Now I am not also saving money but reducing the use of oil.

I also started making glassware out of old wine bottles. I live in wine country so there is a huge amount of unrecycled
wine bottles. Less than 20% of glass gets recycled and of even that amount our local recycling center has to PA Y to have it
taken into recycling.

At the local Earth Day festival we sold several dozen and many more are now aware and enthusiastic about
the idea. We have 1 restaurant in town that ordered a few dozen to trial test... another local flower market wants a few
dozen for vases and will display the glassware for sale.

With any luck and a lot of hard work we will make this a small local industry to turn local trash into a local treasure
and reduce the flow of glass into the dump.

Before recycling.... REDUCE - REUSE - then recycle.
I am sure in the years to come I will find even more ways to reduce my personal dependence on oil and other toxic
components to our living on this incredible planet.

What a terrific idea, CascadeMom--they are beautiful!

It sounds kind of silly, but I finished "transitioning" my kids from baggies to washable containers for their snacks. Two kids x two bags per day x 5 days of preschool a week = lots and lots of wasted plastic.

Thanks KY the different colors of the glass remind me of jewels.
emerald green, topaz yellow, sapphire blue.

Tucson, not silly at all... it's a start, and good for your kids to know you are concerned.

Our town had an Earth Day fair yesterday. It was well attended and I was amazed at the people who were amazed at solar energy. We are thinking of buying the collectors and were actually shopping at the vendors for prices and ideas on how to go about it so we stood around that area for quite awhile. Anyhow, I was amazed at how many people seemed to not know about things like the solar garden fountains and lights. So it was good to get the word out to lots of people who didn't seem to know. Sometimes I think those of us who have been doing this for so many years think that everyone is aware--and they just aren't!

The town near my little house in the desert had an Earth Day And Butterfly Day gathering on Saturday. I got some good information and contacts for "How To Transform Desert Soil" into a growable medium. Then I went out to inspect a parcel of barren desert land for possible purchase and improvement. Then I came home to create a planting area for some avocado pits in hopes of eventually having one or more avocado trees as part of my intended orchard (which already has one young apricot tree starting to grow near the top end of my land). The attached photo shows a cactus bloom on the land I inspected, one of those precocious realities which are part of why I love this barren desolate desert land.

Wellll.. I am getting ready to leave the BIG city for the more country living...I plan on a food garden, chickens, a couple pigs and a couple calves as well as a pond for fish..I am also going to be looking into Solar collectors for my hot water if nothing else...I plan to find another wood stove for winter cooking and one to heat the house...Best biscuits I ever made were in an old Jupiter Arizona wood burning cookstove.. Composting, and feeding the hogs will help with food scraps...Worm bins and plants will be delighted to see newspaper and coffee grounds just for starters...There is also the Freecycle movement that can be found at www.freecycle.org ...Just look up your state, and find a city near you ..If there isn't one, consider becoming a Group owner/moderator, and get one going in your area...

I reuse many things. When I go grocery shopping, I occassionally get disgusted looks when I ask for plastic grocery bags - but I use them as liners for my smaller garbage cans. If I didn't, I'd have to go buy the plastic anyways. I also reuse newspaper in any way that I can, produce plastic bags if not damaged can be reused, I reuse my plastic milk jugs for cold water in the fridge and for watering plants and making plant cocktails. etc.... etc.... etc.....

Planting a bur oak.

We began recycling after the original Earth Day in 1970. Back then we had to haul everything to a recycling center, a real chore. Now, thanks to citizen pressure on our city council, paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, aluminum, and tin are all picked up at the curb on garbage day Also as a result of Earth Day (and the whole environmental movement that inspired it) we gave up pesticides in our home and garden, and we drive a compact car. Our next car will be a hybrid or maybe there will be something even better by then.

Earth Day grew out of citizen frustrations over pollution of our air and water and it truly helped focus our nation on environmental problems and solutions. That same year, I am proud to say, Illinois became the first state to establish its own Environmental Protection Act. My husband and I went with a group to Springfield to push for its passage. We were all ordinary citizens, not wealthy or powerful.

Today Earth Day is a yearly reminder of the importance of being good stewards of the environment. It is an occasion to celebrate our successes and renew our commitment to do more. Every year as Earth Day approaches we get lots of great new ideas and helpful information. Because I was alerted by all the talk of Earth Day in the media last week, I purchased all non-toxic cleaners at the grocery store this weekend (something I'd gotten a little careless about recently).

I think Earth Day is a wonderful new American tradition and I am sure that each year many people are newly inspired to take some personal action not just for one day but for a lifetime. Hooray for Earth Day!

I'm not doing anything special for it. I care and do these things ALL YEAR ROUND. I think it's kind of sad that we need a special day to remind people how important these things are... but if it works...

New Mexico has so many sun hours a year that solar energy is more achievable than most places.

I didn't do anything different in my life until a couple of years ago. Now, I use no paper products that i don't have to.. No more paper plates, napkins and I use cloth everything in the kitchen and cleaning.

This is all new to me but since I do care I am trying to turn off lights not needed, don't run the dishwasher until absolutely full (i read that washing dishes by hand requires much more water). I now don't run the washing machine unless I have a full load, etc. More water is used in the tubs and showers than anywhere else in the house so the baths are getting quicker and using much less water.

Mosquitoes are such a problem here that I am still trying to find out how to save rainwater without causing mosquitoes.

The point being............I do care about the earth but I admit a new awareness in the last few years about the use of resources that we do have.

I didn't mean you guys when I said that. I mean people as a group. Gardeners are a special kind of people! I already know that we care!

Micha......I have been horrible about awareness of resources available until the last few years. I think that is because I grew up a farm girl and still am where water, land, etc is plentiful.

gessie, there is a safe mosquito killing cake that you can buy at walmart to throw in water. our city passed them out last year when we had standing water so bad everywhere. but you can also cover the barrels.

Yep, they're called "mosquito dunks", I believe, but there are other brands, too. The home improvement stores have them, too, in the garden dept.

Thanks my DG friends! I didn't know that.

I must say, that reading through everyone's posts I'm seeing so many things we can do. Some, I'm doing already and some I'll be starting today! Thanks, everyone.