It's Earth Day....that time in the year where we should all stop and look at what we are doing and what we can do to help pass on clean water, air, and a safe environment to our children and our children's children. Here are some suggestions that are easy enough to implement .

1. Buy local, eat local...for food that can not be grown in your region, such as tea, coffee, bananas, or chocolate, buy fair trade products where these are available. Make use of farmer's markets in your area.

2. Say No to Plastic bags that you use for just a few minutes that may last for years or decades in the landfills. Buy cloth bags and use them instead. Take one with you whenever you go out shopping and use it again and again.

3. Snip Six Pack Rings...Many 6 pack rings wind up in the ocean. Once they are in the water they become invisible to sea creatures and birds that are hunting for food. Sea gulls and pelicans can get the rings caught around their necks or becks when they dive into the water looking for fish. Tangled in the the rings, they can drown, strangle or stave.

4. Don't use Styrofoam cups. Polystyrene is forever: It is not biodegradable. Americans use enough Styrofoam cups each year to circle the earth 436 times. Don't be a mug...Use a mug!

5. Do Guerrilla Gardening: Our cities have more parking lots than parks. More traffic signs than trees. Guerrilla gardeners are people who anonymously plant herbs, flowers and vegetables on vacant land, in cracks in the pavement and by sides of roads and footpaths.

6. Commit to eating a vegetables -only dinner once a week. Producing meat requires a huge amount of resources compared to growing fruit, vegetables, and grains. Twenty vegetarians can live off the same amount of land that one meat eater would require. If Americans reduced their meat consumption by 10% , it would free 13 million tons of grain-enough to feed 60 million people.

7. Commit an act of kindness. Do something for someone else without any expectation of gain or reward. (If you get caught...it doesn't count.) Here are some examples: * Whenever you pass a playground or area where kids play, drop some coins. Do you remember how excited you were when you found coins? * If you know people who are having a hard time financially, put a $5, $10, or $20 bill in an envelope, and mail it to them anonymously. They'll talk about it for weeks, remember it forever, and wonder who sent it.

Plant a garden, go visit a community garden or just go out and hug a tree. For those of you having wonderful spring weather go out and enjoy the beauty of spring with the budding trees and flowers . We can all be better stewards of the planet.

Labels: Earth Day, Sunday Seven