1. Drink Tap Water

Heard of the “Pacific Garbage Patch?” It’s a floating continent, roughly the size of the United States, that is made largely of plastic and other debris. It’s devastating to marine life. (It’s filling the bellies of and suffocating whales, sea birds, and marine babies.) The plastic is also leaching into the water and causing genetic disorders in aquatic animals and likely people, too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch In early April 2010, we discovered a second patch in the Atlantic.

The number one gift we can give to Mother Earth and her creatures is to stop buying plastic immediately. Any plastic–all plastic (bags, bottles, packaging). Recycling just won’t cut it. We must stop buying – now. Pick one re-useable bottle and a filter (if you must) and go back to the tap. US tap water is the cleanest and healthiest in the world. It’s fortified with minerals and fluoride for your teeth. Furthermore, most bottled water is re-packaged tap water!! Make a pledge to stop buying plastic bottles today.

2. Re-use before you recycle

Before recycling, composting, or stuffing a landfill with your waste items, reuse them. How? Use your imagination!   Empty egg crates can be used to plant seeds and sprout seedlings for a spring garden. Empty jars or cans can be used as water glasses or to hold change, incense, flowers, paperclips/office supplies, or decorated to be handmade works of art filled with candy for your honey. Empty gallon milk jugs can be used to mix and serve sangria for your next garden party and then cut in half and placed beneath a planter to catch excess water. Old tin foil can be tossed in the dishwasher and re-used before it’s recycled.

When you can’t think of a new use for something? Someone else can!

No use for something still in usable condition? Donate it! (Donate to a shelter, GoodWill, Salvation Army, JCC, etc.) No use for something in seemingly un-usable condition? Donate it! Craigslist’s “Free” section or your local FreeCycle group: http://www.freecycle.org/ will definitely do the trick! (I have seen bottle caps and scrap cardboard snatched up in an instant from Freecycle!)

3. Cut out (or down) the meat

Eat less (or no) meat, chicken, fish. All farmed animals require an inordinate amount of water and grain to raise, and this often involves clear-cutting of forested land, soil erosion, and water contamination for each single serving of meat. (Not to mention the hormones, antibiotics, pesticides that you subject your body to and the cruelty that most animals live through before they are slaughtered). Recent studies have also proven that people who eliminate meat and increase fresh fruit and veggies in their diets live longer, have lower chance of Alzheimer’s and heart disease. Fish are in the mix, too, because of the crisis in the global fish supply, high levels of mercury in fish (that are then stored in your body), and devastation to wild fish populations caused by farmed fish. If you have a lot of meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and fish are all meat) in your diet, just substitute one meat-free meal per week and take it down from there. You’ll feel better, look better, lose weight, nourish the Earth, and earn big karma points, to boot!

4. Flip a switch

Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Pump up your mojo: dine, bathe, snuggle by candlelight. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth or soaping up the dishes. Unplug your electronics when you are not home. Turn off (or down) the heat overnight. Turn off (or down) the A/C during the day. Shut down your computer when you’re not using it. Use your toaster (vs your oven) to cook a small meal. Main point: cut down on your energy (and water) usage when you can. Electricity, heat, etc. come from coal plants and oil reserves. They all tie back to a major source of global pollution. Use electricity, etc. consciously and sparingly.

5. One mug

Coffee or tea drinker? Pick a portable mug that you adore, and use it religiously! Refuse paper cups for coffee or tea and plastic cups for iced drinks. You’ll easily save a FOREST worth of trees in a year or two (and spare a square acre of that plastic patch).

6. One bag

Keep one reusable bag handy – for groceries, but also for lunch, clothing and other shopping. There are many ultra-compact versions: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/envirosax-ultracompact-reusable-shopping-retro-graphic-frames-p-1081.html, that you can keep ready to go at all times. If you MUST accept a bag from a retailer, go for paper–avoid plastic at all costs.

7. Walk, bike, jog, public transport

If you commute to work, take one day a week and use the train or bus. Better yet, bike or walk to work. You’ll be cutting carbon emissions and, if you’re hoofin’ it, you’ll be boosting your fitness, too.

8. Green it!

Plant a tree, grow some veggies, participate in a local community garden. When you grow your own food, you cut down on carbon emissions from the shipping of food to local markets and the food tastes better. When you plant a tree, you beautify your surroundings and freshen the air. You’re spreading the balance and beauty of nature!

9. Buy fresh, organic, and local

Frequent your farmer’s markets, or local markets that identify produce and items that are grown or manufactured locally. You’ll cut down on carbon emissions, support local farmers and businesses, and (in the case of produce), will be buying and eating food that is more fresh, awesome tasting, and packed with nutrition.

10. Soak it all in

Get out there and enjoy the beauty! Take a walk in a park. Go paddleboating, white water rafting, for a stroll along a waterfront. Connect with the plants, animals, soil, sun, breeze, the life thriving around you. Eco-tip: help to enrich your surroundings, while you’re at it (bring birdseed to feed birds from a distance, pick up litter, allow wildlife space and respect as you pass by). As we allow the beauty that surrounds us to touch, move and inspire us, we will be driven to honor and protect the planet that sustains us.

Wishing all of us a happy, healthy, beautiful, fun, inspiring, and FANTASTIC Earth Day!