Earth Day 20202 – Virtual Activities
Happy Earth Day 2020! This year, it is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day!
And if you’re feeling a bit stir-crazy or otherwise want to still help out the Earth today while being stuck at home, we have set up this “road map”, if you will, of things to do today, the rest of this week, and every day forward!
Please feel free to follow this road map as a schedule or as a suggestion! That is, if you want to make an event out of it, go through the road ma as you like anytime throughout the day, or, pick a thing/a couple of things to do to participate in Earth Day.
We have activity suggestions as well as some informational segments that have been prepared by some of the amazing organizations we are partnered with for this event! There is plenty for people of all ages to do today for the planet!
However you take part today, let us know!
After you do something for the Earth, please take a pic to record your Earth Day Action, and share it with us on any of our social media pages!
Make sure to tag us, as well as using any of the following #s:
#GetinMotion #MiMMagEarthDay2020 #MillennialsinMotion
For every 3 pictures that are posted from someone participating in our Earth Day event, we are planting a tree through our partner One Tree Planted! You must tag us/our page in order for us to see your submission.
We are extending this opportunity from Earth Day through Saturday, April 25th!
So #GetinMotion for Mother Earth today, and let’s get started!
Get in Motion with our Partners!
To start, please check out these various segments presented by our partners of this event! They cover various environmentally-related topics and actions for you to absorb or engage in!
NEW! – Message from Rosemary of the Lots of Love Club!
Christian Gerlach of the Sierra Club + Our Wild America!
This segment covers contacting the right people/departments on oil/gas land leases to fight auctions of our public lands, as well as the Sierra Club’s 30% by 2030 initiative to protest 30% of our wilderness areas and public lands by 2030!
Thank you so much Christian for taking the time to cover this super important topic for people to take action on!
Victoria Soriano of 5 R Revolution and NV Conservation League!
Composting Basics and preview for her composting workshop where she’ll be showing you how to build your own compost bin from home!
Mark your calendar for Torie’s composting workshop on May 9th at 12:00 pm!
Here is the sign up form for the event. Attendees must sign up here to be confirmed for the event.
https://forms.gle/ReW6wmD4C5LHbu616
For this workshop, you will need some supplies in order to make your bin. Here is the list of materials needed for the different types of composting methods that will be covered (choose the one that would work best for you):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iiGnw8JzjU2VBa_-wMjC5mIH4I3fwsoL/view?usp=sharing
After you have registered for the event, you will receive a meeting link sent via email the day before!
Thank you so much Torie for sharing your knowledge about this important topic! We look forward to your workshop next month! 😀
Get in Motion Outside!
If the weather is nice, make sure to spend some time outside throughout the day today, and every day! And if you can do something for the planet while you’re out there then all the better! So, here are some ideas for how to Get in Motion outside for Earth Day!
Check out all of these outdoor activities before getting started! There might be some things you can do together.
(You can do them together, or you can set aside some time throughout the day in between other activities to go outside periodically to do them!)
So step outside and get started!
Go For a Walk!
For your health and the health of the planet, go for a walk sometime today!
When you’re walking and breathing, you’re exhaling carbon dioxide for the trees and other plants to take in, while you are also breathing in the oxygen they’re producing – completely one big, beautiful circle of respiration!
It’s also good for you to be getting fresh air, sunlight, and get your body in motion! And, it’s good for your mental health as well!
While you’re out on your walk, consider also…
Doing Neighborhood Nature Bingo!
Check out this Nature Bingo card that Get Outdoors NV made for their Earth Week campaign!
If you want to take pictures to record your finds, go ahead! Otherwise, just tag us in a post where you talk about what you experienced while playing!
Get more information from their website here.
There are also tons of other bingo cards and scavenger hunts online to check out! Search on Google and on social media platforms!
(Safely) Pick Up Trash Along the Way!
If you’d really like to #GetinMotion on your walk, we suggest SAFELY picking up trash along the way!
Safely means while practicing social distancing, using proper PPE (gloves and masks), and being mindful of things you’re grabbing. Do not pick up anything you’re not comfortable with or don’t feel safe about such as glass, any drug paraphernalia, bottles with liquid in them, discarded masks/gloves, etc.
If you happen to have trash pickers or something that you can use as a grabber or pair of tongs, this will be even better in terms of safety (and better for your back as well, not having to bend down as much with using just your hands).
Here are some tips on how to reduce waste while doing this activity!
- Consider using gardening gloves that you can disinfect, instead of using a pair of disposable gloves.
- Separate recycling from the trash! Doing this as you go along is quicker and safer to do rather than doing it at the end. Remember that recycling needs to be empty, clean, and dry – so if you find a can or bottle that is dirty, just toss it. Please do not bag any recycling, and do not put any bags or flimsy plastic in the recycling bin!
- If you have a cloth reusable bag, consider using that instead of a plastic bag to pick up trash, or to separate the recycling. Wash and disinfect as soon as you’ve dumped the contents.
- Have a lot of those plastic bags from the store under a cabinet somewhere that eventually get thrown out eventually anyway? Fill those up instead of using a trash bag! Odds are you won’t fill a whole trash bag, so save some plastic while reusing another kind!
Collect Cigarette Butts
As an added bonus activity, for those who feel compelled, take a bread bag or other smaller bag that was headed to the trash, and put all of the cigarette butts you find in this separate bag. Only do this with gloves or a trash grabber.
The purpose of this activity is to raise awareness for how bad the issue of cigarette butt litter is all around us. Cigarette butts filters are made of plastic and do not biodegrade, and continue to leech toxic chemicals into the ground and water it comes in contact with, contaminating plants, soil, and our water supply.
By seeing the magnitude of the problem we hope to raise awareness for it!
For everyone who decides to do this activity, shares a pic of their “haul” to us/tags us in a post for it, we will plant FIVE trees with OTP!
We are also going to see where we could send the pictures of your hauls to push for “Butt Boxes” to be installed in places in the community in the future to help cut back on this problem.
Plant Something Outside (or Inside)!
This is an especially fun activity to do with your kids if you have any and it is a great learning opportunity as well. (It’s also fun for adults too, with or without kids!)
Plus, learning how to grow your own food is an essential skill that everyone should have an understanding of, in order to maintain a sense of self-sufficiency! And during uncertain times such as now, this might be a good skill to learn during the shutdown.
Depending on what you have available to you, there are a couple of things you can do with this activity.
If you have any packets of seeds lying around, some kind of soil, and some kind of decent-sized container, plant something!
If you don’t have seeds at hand, look in and around your kitchen! Do you have any produce in there, like tomatoes, strawberries, garlic, potatoes, and so on? These and many other fruits, vegetables, and herbs can be regrown from their scraps or seeds!
For an extended (but not comprehensive) list of foods that can be regrown, check out this post by Epic Gardening!
For some instructions on how to regrow food from scraps, check out YouTube! There are countless videos to help you with whatever plants you have available to you!
If you happen to have any access to pre-grown plants (such as trees/flowers) or happen to come across any while you’re out running essential errands, you can do this as an added bonus activity today/this week to add a little color to your social-distancing!
*** Pleases note: We are not advocating anyone to go out and go out of their way to get something to plant for Earth Day/Earth Week. Please try to order what you can from online if possible.
That’s it for the outside activities!
Let’s move on to some things you can do with yourself to honor Mother Earth!
Get in Motion with Yourself!
We often forget that we too are a part of the earth, so in honoring the Earth today, it’s important to remember ourselves in the process.
By that, I mean through the practice of expressing ourselves in creative ways. Our ability to take the things we see in the world around us and craft something from that – whether it be spoken or written words or some other form of art – is something that is what makes us human.
We are creative beings, and art and expression are ways in which we can more closely connect with the earth, show our appreciation for it, explore the world around us, and explore ourselves.
So, check out these ways to mix art/self-expression and nature!
Draw and/or Paint Something (Freehand)
A lot of people who say that they’re not good at art overlook the fact that you don’t have to be an “artist” to enjoy making art.
Anyone can make art! So don’t let ideas of “good” or “bad” stop you from making some!
As for inspiration, it is all around us, especially in nature!
So, sit down somewhere with a pencil, pen, or paintbrush, and put it to paper.
Go outside and look around your yard, neighborhood, or view, and consider recreating what you see.
Find a blooming wildflower!
Look for a cool-looking tree!
Check out the landscape around you, or up at the sky above (especially around sunset).
Don’t think too hard about making art! Just go with the flow, and enjoy yourself!
Color Something!
If you don’t want to free-hand your art, or have young children who prefer coloring, bust out some coloring books to find something nature-related, or print out some available online!
Here are a couple sites where you can print out coloring pages:
https://printablefreecoloring.com/
https://www.coloringnature.org/
Remember to share your finished drawings with us!
(Must be nature related to count towards a tree planting!)
Write a Nature Poem or Song
You don’t have to draw something to get creative for Earth Day!
You can also make art with your words!
Take a look around you outside, or look for some inspiration online, and put together the words that stand out to you the most to see how you can craft something out of them.
Write an ode to a flower, or a ballad for the Earth; a Haiku about a bug, or a melody from the birds!
Inspiration is all around us, we just have to look and be open to the suggestions.
Remember! April is also Poetry Month, and we are still doing our Poetry Community Challenge! This means for any poem (or song) submissions, we will be planting a tree through OTP!
This means this activity counts for DOUBLE!
It counts for a tree planting automatically for completing the community challenge, and it counts for one out of the three submissions needed for the additional tree planting for this event!
Write a Mindfulness Log
If you don’t want to create something of your imagination, then consider creating something of your present surroundings in a self-reflective way!
To do this, grab a notebook and writing utensil, and go outside somewhere.
Find a comfortable place to sit, and just breath for a bit. Don’t look at your phone. Just relax your mind, and try to meditate for a bit.
Focus on your breathing, while also listening to what your hear around you; what you smell; what you see; and what you feel.
The wind. The sun. The colors of the plants and flowers. The birds chirping. The many different kinds of creatures all around you. The swaying of the trees, and the buzzing of working bees.
These and many more things provide many different sensations for us to take in, but which we often block out and ignore.
Write them down and how they made you feel. Reflect on that and write down your observations!
Make Some Earth Day Resolutions
Lastly, take a look around your home, your routines, and your life in general.
Where can you commit to making dedicated changes in your life to be more environmentally friendly, and reduce your carbon footprint during the pandemic and/or when things go back to “normal”?
Here are some ideas!
- Find ways to use less plastic! Some things can’t be avoided in terms of plastic usage at this time, but there are still many opportunities around us! For example, refuse straws, utensils, and sauce packets at the drive-thru if you’re eating your meal at home. When possible, and when restrictions are lifted, find way ways to improve your recycling practices, use more reusable products, and stop using bottled water. (Check out some of our environmental articles for more ideas here: https://mimmag.com/environment-articles/)
- Be mindful of food waste! Every year, 1.3 BILLION tonnes of food is wasted globally, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2018). This is of course collectively, from all factors, not just consumer waste. If you find yourself throwing out food a lot, you might be buying too much, or are forgetting it too often (something I personally am guilty of!) So, make a resolution to cut back on your food spending (getting only what you need, when you need it), and/or look into composting your food scraps! If you are unable to compost yourself, look into a local compost pickup service, like our partner, Viva La Compost! Also, consider growing your own food! You’ll be less likely to waste it if you put the effort into growing it!
- Commit to Taking Action and to Holding Representatives Accountable! Much of the environmental issues in the world are not because of the actions of regular people, but rather the exploitation of nature and natural resources by much larger entities, such as corporations and governments. Meaning consumers/citizens need to hold these entities and their representatives responsible! For a resolution with this issue, make a list of the companies, politicians, and anyone else that would be responsible for decisions regarding environmental issues, and make a goal to contact them to make a change! Tell a beverage company to find an alternative to plastic! Petition for a plastic bag ban! Tell your congressperson or Senator to push for climate change action! Make or sign petitions for environmentally-related issues. Run for a local office to represent your community on environmental concerns. These are all great ways to make change actively!
- Live more minimally. Much of the time, waste comes from over-consumption and over-indulgence. We may find ourselves buying things just because they attracted our attention and we thought they were cute, or grabbed things off the shelf because they made us feel good, or buying the latest model of something to feel like we’re keeping up with the rest of the world. And while it’s okay to indulge on occasion, we’ve been conditioned to do it as a habit. Buy, buy buy! If there’s anything this pandemic has taught us, it’s that materialism is not essential. So, between now and next Earth Day, see where you can minimalize your life! Get rid of things you don’t use. Clear up some of the clutter in your home, and in your mind. Appreciate the little things and the simplicity of life.
- Whatever you can and are willing to do to make a change in the coming months, write it down – and do it!
Contact a Representative
Whether it’s a company or someone in our government, if there’s only one thing you do today/this week, contacting a representative of some entity in order to request action on an environmental issue, could potentially have the most impact!
Maybe you know of a company that uses too much packaging or has a business practice that isn’t environmentally friendly. Send an email or call their HR/customer service department.
Want a local politician to write or support legislation dealing with an environmental issue? Write them a letter or send them a message through their contact page, or give their office a call! If a representative gets enough contacts about an issue, they are more inclined to push for it!
You can find and contact your federal, state, and local officials here: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/
Generally, for smaller issues or issues affecting your local community, start at the bottom and work your way up! For larger issues and issues that can affect the whole country (and beyond—like climate change), contact your representatives at the federal level, like your senators and members of Congress.
That’s it for these activities!
The following are additional resources, content, and links to organizations to check out for Earth Day and other environmentally related topics!
Podcasts We’ve Done with Environmentally Related Organizations!
Want to listen to some of our past conversations with people, organizations, and topics relating to environmental issues? Check out these podcast episodes we’ve done through our Conversations with the Community!
Interview with Litter Free LV
Interview with 5 R Revolution
Interview with Sierra Club
Interview with Republic Services
Interview with Lots of Love Club
Interview with The Doodling Nomad
Interview with the Minimal Market
Interview with Market in the Alley
Our Partners + Other Environmental Organizations to Check Out!
Check out some of the amazing organizations that work to help the environment in some way, and that we have had the honor of partnering with for this event or past collaborations, as well as some we look forward to working with in the future, and who we otherwise want to give a shout out to (and recommend you go support!)
Click the names to go to their respective websites! They will open in a new tab.
5 R Revolution – Facebook
Market in the Alley (Fergusons)
Litter-Free LV
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/litterfreelv/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/litterfreelv/
Thank you to everyone who partnered with us for this event!
And thank you to everyone who participated with us as well!
Happy Earth Day 2020!
