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!
Here is the rest of GONV’s Earth Week 2020 schedule! And, you can 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 with yourself to honor Mother Earth!
