What is Earth Day?
Today, April 22nd, marks the 51st anniversary of Earth Day – a multi-national holiday celebrated by over 190 countries around the world! This environmental movement began back in the 1970s in an effort to raise public awareness and give voice to the growing concern for the state of our planet. What is now recognized as the largest secular observance in the world, this holiday continues to inspire environmental action and remind everyone how important it is to protect our planet.
Teaching Your Kids the Importance of Earth Day
With the growing climate crisis and environmental protection at the forefront of international efforts, it’s crucial that we recognize our impact on the world we inhabit and what we can do to minimize it on an individual basis. It’s even more important that we actively teach our little ones to do the same, as they will be the caretakers of our planet for years to come. In fact, one of earthday.org’s key messages for this year’s campaign is advocating for climate literacy – the first step to enacting real change. We must each make an effort to educate ourselves and those around us on the limited supply of resources we have and what harmful activities we partake in that diminish those resources.
Celebrating Earth Day Throughout the Year
Although Earth Day is only celebrated once a year, its spirit can be carried on throughout every season. There are thousands of simple changes you can implement in your household and throughout your daily routine to conserve resources and help restore our earth. After all, what better way to teach your kiddos to think “green” than to model that behavior yourself!
Wondering where to start? We’ve listed out a few ways to set an example and teach your children to be environmentally conscious all year round:
- Only wash dishes and clothes when there is enough for a full load
- Open windows and doors to let the fresh air in instead of running the air conditioner
- Turn off faucets and lights when not in use
- Take short showers and baths with minimum water
- Start composting at home
- When grocery shopping, use reusable bags
- Recycle and repurpose old materials
Imagine if everyone took the time to implement just one or two of these strategies each day? We may actually start to preserve our precious earth and help reverse the effects of our human footprint.
Upcycling Your Everyday Materials
Recycling is absolutely essential to the protection of our limited resources, and surprisingly enough, you can also have a lot of fun with it. Enters: Upcycling. The process of repurposing discarded materials to make something even better and often more useful than before. Have you ever thought of reusing an egg carton for a vase? How about a toilet paper roll as an iPhone stand? Below, we’ve curated a list of our favorite DIY projects using what you may have once considered “trash”: 
DIY Phone Holder with Toilet Paper Rolls
Cleaning Out and Repurposing Candle Jars
6 Creative Ways to Upcycle a Tin Can
Show your support and make an effort to #RestoreOurEarth today! If you try out any of the projects we linked in this article, feel free to share with us on social media! You can find us @myhotlunchbox on Instagram and Facebook.
Additional Sources Used
Written by: Shelby Candler
Photo by: Francesco Gallarotti on Unsplash
