Earth Day 2019

Masterful Mindsets ~ Do Your Part! Seven Simple Solutions for Living A Greener Life

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” ~ Native American Proverb

Question: 

Will you celebrate Earth Day today? How “green” are you living? What are you doing to ensure that future generations will still have the resources and environment to live a healthy life?

Action Challenge:

My thirteen-year-old daughter recently wrote a letter to her principal addressing, as she put it, “the crisis that is our environment”. In the letter she was proposing that the students at her school take action by doing a school wide clean up and then plant flowers around the school grounds. In her proposal, she went into great detail about how the money could be raised to purchase the flowers, a watering schedule for students to be responsible for the newly planted flowers and the importance of educating the students about the environmental crisis our world is facing, as well as teaching them that taking action, even if small, can have an impact on their society. I was so proud of her efforts, and am happy to say that not only did the principal listen, she was happy to take action on the movement my daughter started. And today, being Earth Day, they will begin their project.

So I’m thinking, if a 13 year old can get an administration behind her to start a movement that gets hundreds of others involved in making her world a better place… well then, so can each and every one of us. And, if we all did our part… well, the world would be a better place!

My challenge to you this week is simple but profound – just like her proposal (which I basically paraphrased above) – Do something for your environment! Do something that will start a movement even if it’s just with your staff at work or your family at home. Start taking action to make this world a better place. Do your part!

And hey, that doesn’t mean you have to go out and do grand things. Although if you want to… by all means – get going on it! But start with some small shifts and commit to sticking with them. Below are seven simple ways you can get started. But before I list them, I want to leave you with one last thought. It’s a quote directly from my daughter’s proposal and I hope it inspires you to want to take action to do your part.

“We want to be a part of our generation that takes action on issues that affect us instead of sitting around and watching.”

Let’s Do Our Part:

1.Start with general recycling. Do what my family does and label boxes for paper, glass and metal. Be sure that you keep brown glass separate from clear and green glass. All papers can be recycled, even those shiny magazine pages.

2. Paper or Plastic… how about neither? Reusable bags are a big thing these days, some more environmentally conscious stores won’t even offer you a bag unless it’s a reusable one. Little by little you can purchase them and eventually have enough to use for all your shopping needs. (I keep mine in my car at all times.)  And, if you do happen to use plastic, there are many stores that actually recycle them, so instead of just throwing them in the trash, either bring them back and recycle them or use them for such things as packing paper or poop bags for your pouches.

3. Packaging is something that we may not think much about but when we buy and use products that are individually packaged, we are not being very environmentally conscious. Sure, they might be easy and convenient. But they cause more waste due to the individual packages, more energy to produce, and they actually cost more. So do your wallet and the environment a favor. Buy in bulk and package in reusable containers for individual servings.

4. Paper waste is one of my biggest pet peeves. Well that and wasted electricity, but we’ll save that for point 5. Paper waste is something that is actually easily remedied. I keep a bin for papers that can be reused. Old schedules or forms that have a blank back make great scratch paper. And when working in my office, I always try to be certain I have a “final” copy of something before I actually print it out.

5. Energy waste is something that is also easily remedied. Simply shutting off the lights, TV, etc. when you aren’t in a room is a good place to start. If something is on, but not in use, turn it off. Another easy adjustment would be to unplugging electronics and appliances that aren’t in use. (Where is your phone charger right now? Is it plugged in somewhere sucking phantom energy?)

6. Don’t litter! Just don’t! It’s not that hard to keep track of your trash. We are at outdoor sporting events all the time and it sickens me to see snack wrappers, water bottles, etc. on the ground. I keep a small trash sack in my car to be sure that when we are out and about, there’s a place to throw our trash even if there’s no public trash can around.

7. Compost food waste or yard clippings. If you aren’t sure where to start or what foods are safe for composting, give Google a try. There are tons of articles with tips on how to compost. My family has been composting for years and it make fantastic fertilizer for our yard and garden every year.

***Join me for more on this subject tomorrow, Tuesday, April 23rd at 11am PT/2pm ET for Facebook Live on my Facebook Biz Page: Coach Michelle Weimer. I’d love to know what you do to live a greener life or how you celebrate Earth Day. Let’s have a real conversation about our environmental crisis and together, let’s start a movement.