Does your family celebrate Earth Day? We believe Mother Earth deserves more than just one day – so we’ve put together three ways to celebrate today and 3 ways to celebrate all year long.

How does your family celebrate? What are your favorite ways to help the environment?  

Celebrate Today:

1. Clean Up Crew It might seem boring to adults, but kids love a good trash walk! Get them gloves or “grabbers” and a big trash bag and walk the neighborhood looking for pieces of litter they can clean up. Add to the excitement by planning a prize for the person who collects the most garbage.

2. Plant a Tree Improve your landscape AND help the Earth in one fell swoop. Trees create oxygen, and everyone needs oxygen! Even if planting a tree isn’t in the cards today – planting a flower, a bush or anything green is a gift to the Earth and to future generations.

3. Build a Birdfeeder This peanut butter bird feeder is so fun to make, and perfect for hungry birds waiting for Spring. Build and hang it today, and enjoy the beautiful birds all week long (or until the birdseed is gone!). Get the instructions here: http://tinkerlab.com/two-creative-outdoor-activities/

Celebrate Every Day:

1. Turn Out the Lights  Have you heard the rumor that it’s better to leave lights on than turn them on and off frequently? It’s not true! It does require a small surge of energy to power up fluorescent lights, but its miniscule compared to the energy required to keep them on. So make a commitment to always shutting off the lights when you leave a room, and powering down anytime there’s enough natural sunlight to get by.

2. Turn Off the Water  Did you know that just by shutting off the water while you brush your teeth you can save more than 200 gallons of water a month?! Yes – a month! That’s more than 2000 gallons a year – enough to fill a standard swimming pool. Make a commitment to turning off the tap whenever you can to preserve one of Mother Earth’s most precious resources.

3. Eat Your Leftovers  Food waste in the US accounts for more than half of landfill contents – the single largest source of methane emissions. According to worldfooddayusa.org we waste more than 30% of our entire food supply. Yikes! Help save our food supply (and the ozone layer) by shopping and cooking strategically, and composting everything you can!