Celebrate Mother Nature on April 22!

This week, on Thursday, April 22nd marks the 51st EARTH DAY since its inception in 1970. As cleaning is our business, we wanted to share with you some fun, safe and educational ways you and your loved ones can still celebrate Mother Nature.

Plan a Solo or Family Clean-Up Run/Cycle

While global and community-organized clean-ups will not be happening this year due to health precautions, you can still make a clean-up event happen for your household by creating your own. Switch up your regular family or solo outdoor activity by combining it with a littler pick-up as its main intention. Chose an area in your neighborhood that you love that could use a little more love, in the cleaning department. Combining your activity with a clean-up is good for your health and the health of the planet, and a fun way to get younger kids involved. Another option is to commit to picking up one piece of litter every day for the year. Seeing the problem of waste firsthand in our own ‘backyard’ will open up the curiosity to how to reduce your daily impact on the environment.

 

Start to grow your own Vegetable Garden!

While our travel and social gatherings are limited, this is a great spring/summer project that your whole household can be involved in. Growing your own vegetables decreases the carbon footprint in the exportation of food and decreases the packaging used to carry it, which ends up in our landfills. Its benefits of gardening are many, not the least keeping you fed, but also helping to build a stronger connection to the earth and its wonders. Working with the soil does instill a deeper responsibility in us to protect and preserve it. For young ones, it’s a great educational tool for both nature and nutrition.

Start to move your Household to the Zero-Waste Movement 

Did you know that Vancouver has a commitment to become the first zero-waste Canadian city by 2040? We at Goldstar think the Elk Valley can definitely follow suit. You can start small and continue to educate and adapt your lifestyle to this movement by first reducing the amount of single-use plastic your family uses. Look at what you use for grocery shopping, family social gatherings, home organization. Change over to reusable cups, straws, bags, and containers. Say no to free giveaways and pamphlets. The less demand there is for plastic – the less demand there is for production.

Commit to One Year of Not Buying Non-Essential Items

Another option to celebrate Earth Day and to start to feel good about your commitment to protecting her is to reduce your consumption of non-essential products. With all the birthday parties, anniversaries, and milestone events that we celebrate annually with our friends and loved ones; we can produce a lot of stress on our environment. Our Goldstar Owner, Jill Barclay, has taken on this challenge with her own family this year. Look at up-cycling gifts creatively or exchanging/teaching a skill in place of a birthday present. For example, if a family member is located in another city, think of giving them a cooking class of your favorite meal over zoom as an alternative to sending a card and a present. Sometimes your time is the most precious gift of all. And most of our playrooms, both kids and adults, are bursting at the seams already. A year off can be a really fun and fulfilling way to do your part. Other areas to consider are clothes, books, and gift wrapping paper. Make sure whatever you chose, you add an element of creative problem solving to it, so the fun of it can help keep you motivated when inconvenience perks up.

Make Your Own DIY Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Products

In our last post, we talked about the many benefits Vinegar had as a cleaning alternative to your laundry cycle that was also an environmentally friendly option. There are many other options for other household cleaners over commercial cleaning products, which may already be in your pantry or cupboards. Generally, the ingredients needed are; white vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, Castile soap, Magic baking powder, water, vegetable or olive oil, fresh herbs, citrus/citrus peel, essential oils, and salt. This can be a supervised craft project with young ones or a solo project to create an environmentally friendly cleaning basket for your home, to celebrate Earth Day.

However, you chose to participate in Earth Day, remember that all it takes is a little awareness and involvement every day that can make the biggest difference. So don’t get overwhelmed or discouraged, just take the first step, so we can continue to enjoy this beautiful natural playground we call home. For more ideas and digital events on Earth Day and how to get involved this year be sure to check out www.earthday.ca