15 Positive Actions for Change

The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is on April 22, 2010. While this is a perfect time to raise environmental awareness and inspire everyone to take positive action, I believe Earth Day should be celebrated everyday. I have a great love for Earth - the only home we all share - and I feel great sorrow each time I think of the environmental state of our planet. Carl Sagan said it best when he related his thoughts on a Pale Blue Dot, a photo of Earth taken by Voyager1:

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

Our actions, however small or large, have an impact on a global scale, not just within our own immediate environment. Although each of us cannot solve the tremendous environmental issues facing our planet, we can all play a role in making a difference.



So in honor of Earth Day, here are my 15 suggestions for positive actions we can all undertake to help our planet everyday:

1. Reconnect with nature by getting outside - walk barefoot in the grass or on the beach – remind yourself what you are trying to preserve and protect.

2. Plant a tree in honor of someone special - make sure it’s indigenous to your area.

3. Clean up litter when you see it - especially on beaches and riverbanks.

4. Reduce, recycle, reuse - donate clothes, games, books to the goodwill.

5. Use eBilling for credit card statements and utility bills; don't print emails - save a tree.

6. Set your computer and printer to energy saving mode, and turn off equipment and lights when not needed.

7. Turn off your monitor when not in use: 75% of energy used by your computer goes to the monitor.

8. Unplug chargers for laptops and phones when not being used.

9. Cook using locally produced, sustainable foods with minimal environmental impact - use organic ingredients whenever possible.

10. Reduce your consumption of meat to lessen carbon emissions from the livestock industry.

11. Don't use plastic bags or disposable items - switch to reusable totes, reusable coffee mugs, reusable water bottles, dishtowels.

12. Use rechargeable batteries.

13. Turn off the water while doing the dishes or brushing your teeth.

14. Walk, bike or carpool whenever possible.

15. Spread the word and share your Earth Day tips with others - I'd love to hear your ideas!

So pick one, pick them all or share your actions for change. Each step we take, no matter how small, has an impact if we all participate - everyday.