Earth Day is everyday

It’s really challenging to curb all the habits that have been so ingrained and convenient for so long, but it is possible. Start small, pick something you can do in your own yard or home. Maybe you plant flowers that feed the pollinators like our bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, or perhaps you start making healthier eating habits, using fresh ingredients vs processed foods and packaged items.

Here is a short list of 10 things you can do to help make a positive impact on the environment. 

1. Plant your own veggie garden. You can still make this work even living in an apartment, or get your veggies from a local farm. The closer your food is to you, the fewer greenhouse gas emissions get released from trucking or flying food to your city. Also, embrace ugly produce, it tastes the same—and eating it could make a major climate impact. Companies like Misfits Market, Hungry Harvest, and Imperfect Produce buy up unattractive, undersized, or surplus fruits and vegetables from farms and deliver them directly to your door.

2. In the bathroom, install a water-saving showerhead and water-efficient toilets that let you choose whether to use a full or half flush.

3. Buy fabric in bulk, and cut a tall stack of squares to use as napkins, kitchen towels, and rags. (Better yet, recycle your old clothes for this use.)

4. Exchange goods with your neighbors. Places like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist are good places to find things you need and post things you want to get rid of.

5. Avoid buying “fast fashion” and learn to do some basic repairs and mending for your clothes. Buy clothes made from natural, renewable materials. Think along the lines of wool, linen, silk, and cotton. Avoid plastic-based fabrics such as polyester, nylon, and spandex. Denim is also notoriously bad for the environment.

6. Recycle better. Disposable coffee cups, greasy pizza boxes, used yogurt cups, oily takeout containers, and dirty diapers can all gum up the recycling process. About 25 percent of what ends up in recycling bins is contaminated, according to the National Waste & Recycling Association. The U.S. used to send its recycling to China, where low-paid workers would sort through it, but now the country is restricting what it takes in, and contaminated recycling may be sent to landfills instead.

7. Encourage kids to pick up trash. Teaching them good habits helps the environment in the future.

8. Learn to compost. Food scraps and yard waste make up about 30 percent of what we throw in the trash. Time to start collecting kitchen waste in your own DIY bin, and to turn that into nutrient-rich soil for a home garden.

9. Work to eliminate single-use plastics. Avoid purchasing plastic-wrapped disposable items. This includes vegetables, coffee pods, wipes, or even single-use razors. Globally, about a quarter of all plastic produced is packaging, but only 14 percent of this is recycled, another 14 percent is burned, and the rest ends up in landfills—where scientists aren’t sure how long it takes it to decompose.

10. Talk about climate change and vote. Elect candidates with good climate plans.