Take Action: Earth Day 2019

Earth Day is Monday, April 22, 2019

The biggest lesson from the first Earth Day: When we come together, the impact can be monumental. Go green with us by making small changes that add up to making a big difference. Commit to earth-friendly acts, make more sustainable choices, reduce your carbon footprint, conserve energy and resources, collaborate on environmental projects in your community, vote for leaders committed to protecting us and the environment, and share your acts of green to help educate and inspire others to join the movement! Protect our environment today and help create a healthy, more sustainable future.

30 easy ways you can take action:

To celebrate AWARE’s 30th Anniversary, we’ve rounded up 30 simple and easy tips to help you go green, protect the earth, save money and make every day Earth Day. You can make a difference!

  1. Educate yourself. When you further your own education you help others understand the importance and value our natural resources.
  2. Join us at AWARE’s 30th Anniversary Celebration this Earth Day on April 22.
  3. Consider setting up a recurring donation to an environmental cause. Would you buy the AWARE team a coffee a month?  Though we love our caffeine, we’d prefer to save the coffee beans and have you set up a recurring donation to help support our 20+ active programs in the Sea to Sky Corridor 😉 Why not try setting one up for $3 a month for the next 10 months to celebrate AWARE’s 30 years?
  4. Join a local park, river or beach clean-up, such as Whistler Pitch-In Day & Appreciation BBQ on May 4.
  5. Stop using disposable plastics, especially single-use plastics like bottles, bags and straws. Have you heard of StrawWars?
  6. Use environmentally-friendly, non-toxic cleaning products. Read our blog on Why Make Your Own Household Cleaner with bonus recipe.
  7. Replace inefficient incandescent light bulbs with efficient CFLs or LEDs. Reduce your carbon footprint by 450 pounds a year.
  8. Carpool, ride your bike, use public transportation or drive an electric or hybrid car. Reduce your carbon footprint by one pound for every mile you do not drive.
  9. Keep your tires properly inflated and get better gas mileage. Reduce your carbon footprint 20 pounds for each gallon of gas saved.
  10. Change your car’s air filter regularly. By the way, here are some interesting facts about car recycling!
  11. Teleconference instead of travelling. If you fly five times per year, those trips are likely to account for 75% of your personal carbon footprint.
  12. Recycle paper, plastic and glass. Reduce your garbage by 10% and your carbon footprint by 1,200 pounds a year. Have you heard of AWARE’s Zero Waste Heroes?
  13. Donate your old clothes and home goods instead of throwing them out. When you need something, consider buying used items or borrowing instead. How involved are you in Whistler’s sharing economy?
  14. Use cloth towels instead of paper ones.
  15. Read documents online instead of printing them.
  16. Use reusable bottles for water, and reusable mugs for coffee, and reusable bags when you shop.
  17. Buy local food to reduce the distance from farm to fork. Buy straight from the farm, frequent your local farmers’ market, or join a local food co-op.
  18. Buy organic food to keep the environment free of toxic pesticides, or grow your own organic garden. Learn more about AWARE’s GROW Whistler program.
  19. Reduce your meat consumption to curb carbon emissions from the livestock industry.
  20. Compost kitchen scraps for use in your garden — turning waste into fertilizer.
  21. Take a shorter shower, use a water-saving showerhead, fix leaky faucets and shower-heads.
  22. Wash your clothes only when necessary, use cold water and line dry.
  23. Form a “green team” at your office to find cost-effective ways to conserve resources and promote sustainability.
  24. Pull out invasive plants in your yard or garden and replace them with native ones. Learn more from the Sea To Sky Invasive Species Council.
  25. Turn off and unplug electronics you’re not using. This includes turning off your computer at night.
  26. Move your heater thermostat down two degrees in winter and up two degrees in the summer to reduce your carbon footprint by 2,000 pounds.
  27. Learn about Whistler’s Residential Energy Rebate Program.
  28. Join Earth Day Network’s campaign to Protect Our Species.
  29. Join Earth Day Network’s campaign to End Plastic Pollution.
  30. Plant a tree or donate a tree through Earth Day Network’s Canopy Project.

And a bonus infographic!

Photo by Miriam Espacio on Unsplash

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