- Author:
- Scott Ingram
- Published:
- April 19, 2016
- Favorites:
- Tagged In:
- Student Travel
Happy (almost) Earth Day!
This Friday, April 23rd, is the 46th annual celebration dedicated to raising awareness and demonstrating support for our beautiful planet and environment. Millions of people around the world will be celebrating it a million different ways, which is great, because our Earth needs all the help it can get! From organizing a beach cleanup with a group of friends, to signing petitions for government support, to being conscious of your consumerism and the products you use everyday, there is nothing too small to help celebrate Earth Day.
Kick off the holiday by watching Wall-E to remind you of
Then channel your inner Leslie Knope and get involved on this joyous day:
But make sure to wear a helmet if partaking in anything dangerous…
- Find an activity in your area: The Earth Day Network has set a goal to plant 7.8 billion trees before their 50th birthday in 2020 (#trees4earth). You can either help them achieve this goal by planting trees in your community or raising money towards the Earth Day funds, or view local activities on their interactive map, such as Green Film Festival in San Francisco, Earth Day Nature Walk in Dallas, and a volunteer Beach Cleanup in Atlantic City.
- Volunteer with the parks service: Help clean up our beautiful planet AND spend the day in a National Park? Score! Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with celebrating 100 years of the National Park Service by helping to navigate guests, patrolling grounds, take surveys of wildlife (ever wanted to be a bird counter?), clear debris from hiking trails, and more!
- Use Earth-friendly beauty and health products, while also profiting organizations: Yes, there is eye shadow made from coconut oil, beeswax, jojoba seed oil and coconut butter. And it comes in tons of colors, including blue and purple. After cleaning off the sparkles at the end of your long day volunteering, use an avocado-based eye cream whose profits benefit Recycle Across America.
- If the physical labor of volunteering isn’t enough, get involved politically: One example, encourage world leaders to take a stance by signing the Paris Agreement. Last December, world leaders from almost 200 countries attended the UN’s Climate Change Convention in Paris. This was a huge step to get governments around the world on the same page about important issues such as cutting down on carbon emissions and upping their spending on renewable energy. The problem? They heard what needs to be done, but now they need to act upon it. Add your voice to a petition to let these leaders know we’re counting on them to do what’s right for our home habitat.
How will you be celebrating? Share your Earth Day festivities with us on social media with #RPearthday!
P.S. How do you think Leonardo DiCaprio is celebrating his Earth Day (because we all know he will be)?
Scott Ingram
Scott is the Director of Admissions at Rustic Pathways. He has spent the last 15 years in the student travel and experiential education world. Before helping families find the perfect Rustic Pathways program, he led gap year programs that took students around the world and spent three years teaching English in Japan.