The Start of Earth Day Week

We at GTB think every day should be celebrated as Earth Day.  However, there is in fact one specific day dedicated to this fabulous planet we live on, April 22.  That is right!  This Wednesday!

We just got word that one of our posts, “Activism via Walks,” was a featured writing for All Thing Eco Blog Carnival Volume 46!  What a great way to start out the week.  The Take Steps for Crohn’s & Colitis walk is May 16th, the day after Bike to Work Day May 15th.  I will for sure be working my buns off!

Back to Earth Day.  Is your community doing anything special to honor this day?   Have you come up with a special activity to teach your kids, or yourself about what you can do a little different each day to contribute to eco-consciousness?  If so, we wanna know!

At my day job, I am lucky enough to be part of the “Green Committee.”  We have several projects going on this week to notify our 800+ associates about earth day & what each department currently does to promote eco-friendliness in their own way. 

One of these projects was to make a video of each member demonstrating their department’s best practice.  Our hope is that other departments will be able to learn something new & take something back to expand on in their own department. For example, one of our kitchens is very  conscious about bringing food out of the freezer a couple of days in advance to thaw, vs. running (and wasting) hot water at a moment’s notice.  Another department has been able to take all paper that has been printed on only one side, otherwise thrown away, and make it into scratch pads for daily notes & phone messages.  Not only am I completely impressed with all these innovative ideas – but I am inspired to think of more!

We have also put in place a scavenger hunt to involve the employees  “hands-on.”  The scavenger hunt includes calling a phone extension to hear the history of earth day to answer two questions and to state where our company’s environmental policy is posted so that they are aware we have one in place.  The prize, a gently used, donated coffee mug filled with dirt & seeds for their very own, one of a kind, recycled plant.  This way, if they garden like I do, they have a mug to save a styrofoam cup.

Do you know why Earth Day started? When? Who did it? Well…I could write it all out here, but why not visit a website dedicated to the day all the time? Earth Day Network has the history of earth day & plenty of other resources to get you on the bandwagon!

In fact, don’t let this picture represent you