EPA | Green Groundswell

The 44th Earth Day falls inconveniently on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, a work day for most people. Below are 5 ideas for observing Earth Day on the day.

Make a phone call, send an email, write a letter, read, or watch a movie. Many of these actions can be completed in the course of your workday, during a break or at lunchtime.

Sign Up for Community Supported Agriculture

Buying locally grown food like fruits and vegetables lowers fossil fuel use and pollution by reducing the number of miles your food travels. Produce picked the day you buy or pick it up stays fresh longer and cuts down on food waste. For instance, a head of lettuce will stay fresh and crisp for two weeks in the fridge.

Nowadays many communities, large and small, are home to community supported agriculture (CSA) farms. A wide variety of options and payment plans make CSAs affordable for many people. Some will deliver to your home or even your office.

Earth Day Action: spring is the perfect time to sign up with a local CSA farm and start enjoying the fresh-picked seasonal produce. To find a CSA, look online at Eat Well Guide or LocalHarvest, ask around, or enter the name of your town and CSA program into your web browser. Once you find a CSA farm, call, email, or sign up online.

Extra Credit: sign up with an organic farm.

Write to an Elected Official

The first Earth Day in 1970 coincided with the beginning of the modern environmental movement. During the 1970s, Americans became aware of and outraged about air and water pollution, food safety issues, and wilderness degradation. Increasing public pressure led Congress to pass several pieces of landmark environmental legislation including establishing the EPA, the Clean Air and Water Acts, and the Endangered Species Act.

After years of inaction, I decided to make my voice heard by writing to my elected officials to let them know what is important to me and suggest actions I think they should take. Last year for Earth Day, I wrote a letter to President Obama about solar power. I’ll provide a link to this year’s Earth Day letter in my next post.

Earth Day Action: take a break at work and write a letter or send an email to one of your elected officials to share your opinions, concerns, or ideas on topics that matter to you.

Extra Credit: write about an environmental-related issue.

Make an Appointment with a Rooftop Solar Company

Renewable energy is clean and well, renewable. We need to get off burning fossil fuels for electricity and we can. Solar is one option.

The cost of solar panels has dropped dramatically which puts rooftop solar within reach of many homeowners and renters (renters talk to your landlord) who previously thought it was unaffordable. Your local solar company is up to speed on the purchase, lease, and other financing options available in your area as well as local, state, and federal tax incentives, which can be substantial.

Last March, we put 16 solar panels on our roof. Over the period of a year, we generated enough excess electricity to cover our use at night and on especially cloudy days, as well as to pay our share of transmission, distribution, public purpose programs, nuclear decommissioning, bonds, generation, and taxes.

By this time next year, you could be generating your own power, saving money, and contributing to the clean energy economy while reducing your own carbon footprint.

Earth Day Action: if you know someone with solar panels, ask for a referral. If not, use your web browser to search for solar panel installers in your area. Some states have websites. Select a company then call them and schedule an appointment to have your roof evaluated for solar panels.

Extra Credit: ask a neighbor if they’d like to have a solar evaluation the same day as yours.

Read the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report

Chances are you’ve seen a headline, article, or post about the recent climate change assessment report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC is an international body of scientists who review and analyze thousands of climate change reports, peer-reviewed articles, white papers, documents, and tons of data. They then distil the information and prepare assessment reports for governmental policymakers (the people who determine our future by establishing regulations, setting policy, and passing or blocking legislation).

As citizens of Earth, we need to inform ourselves about climate change and what we can do about it. Let’s take advantage of the legwork done by the IPCC and read the reports ourselves or least the summaries.

Earth Day Action: the actual IPCC assessment reports are hefty and will require more than one day for reading. So on Earth Day read the IPCC summaries and perhaps watch a video or two. This is probably best done before or after work.

Extra Credit: send the IPCC links above to a friend or family member.

Go to Your Library, Check Out and Watch a Video about Climate Change

The two movies noted below are more than a few years old but deliver climate change information in a way anyone can relate to and understand.

I didn’t go see An Inconvenient Truth when it hit the movie theaters in 2006. Previews on TV made it seem like a doom and gloom story and I just didn’t want to hear it. A few years later, I realized pretending climate change wasn’t happening would not work so I rented the video. It is a powerful movie that everyone should see regardless of how you feel about Al Gore.

Recently, I checked out Burning the Future: Coal in America from my local library. This film is about blowing off the tops of mountains in West Virginia to obtain coal for coal-fired power plants. Viewers will see regular people taking a stand and fighting against the coal industry and ineffective government to save their homes and their children’s future. Everyone should watch this movie to be reminded of what it actually takes to turn the lights on.

Earth Day Action: check out one of these videos, or a climate change video of your choice, at your local library and watch it. This is probably an after work activity. However, during the workday, you can check your library’s online system to find and reserve a video. Don’t have a library card? Get one.

Extra Credit: invite family or friends to watch the video with you.

Have an Earth Day action idea of your own? Please share it in the comments section.

Reader Note – Angel Cat Image

I received the “Angel Cat Proudly Flying the Planet Earth Flag, Which Flies Above All Others” postcard, from Gail Johnson of the Johnson Framing Studio in San Luis Obispo, CA. The original painting “Peace Cat” is by Paula Zima. I fell in love with this postcard and keep it on my desk. This should become the official flag for Earth Day.

Resources

Earth Day Action Network
the White House – Engage and Connect (link inactive January 2017)

Tag: EPA

5 Ways to Go Green on Earth Day 2014