Earth Day 2013 {Friday Five}

Hey, hey it's almost Earth Day!

Go green with one of these activities:

1) Stand Together with Earth Day Columbus by volunteering. With a hundred work sites across the city on Saturday and Sunday, there is something for everyone. Then celebrate on Saturday April 27 at Columbus Commons with bands, food trucks, and booths.

2) Learn about newly-formed Columbus Food Not Lawns, mosquito control options, and the new edible roof garden at The Crest, 2855 Indianola, on Sunday April 21 from 10 am - 1 pm. Pick up a packet of free garden seeds while you're there and be sure to put June 2 on your calendar for a seed swapping and saving event by Columbus Food Not Lawns.

3) Head over to the Edible Gardening Campus at Franklin Park Conservatory Monday for a free family Earth Day Celebration with demos, garden tours, and food trucks. The folks from Sprout it, an interesting new gardening app, will be there with giveaways too.

4) Participate in the Whetstone Rec Center educational garden. Volunteers are needed to install the garden at 10 am Tuesday April 23 with Growing Matters or register for one of two garden clubs who will maintain the garden.

5) Plant something, eat a locally-sourced meal, spend a day without fossil fuel transportation, or make an energy-saving home improvement. We strive to do these things every day but especially on Earth Day.

Earth Day Events {Friday Five}

Earth Day is every day around here. We reuse, recycle, and repurpose. We grow our own, capture rain water, dry laundry on the line, and more. No matter where you are on your earth-friendly journey, here are some ideas for marking Earth Day this weekend.

1) City Folk's Farm Shop Grand Opening - Shop City Folk's from 9 am - 5 pm Saturday for discounts, samples, Sharpening on Site, GNix Food Cart, and a donation of proceeds to benefit Local Matters.

2) Do Something Outside - Take a walk, visit a park, look for eagles, identify wildflowers - be outside and enjoy what the earth has to offer.

3) Root Down Earth Day Celebration - Join the citywide celebration from 11 am - 10 pm at Columbus Commons featuring music, food trucks, a kid's area, ecofriendly booths, and more. Free!

4) Plant Something Edible - Plant a pea, transplant an herb seedling, and soon enjoy eating from your own patio or backyard.

5) Clothing Swap at OSU Urban Arts Space - How cool is this event on Saturday? Turn in your unwanted clothes from 11 am - noon, get tickets, and at 1 - 3 pm exchange them for other's used clothes!

What are you doing for Earth Day?

Earth Day 2011

Earth Day, the annual 24 hour period begun in 1970 to draw attention to environmental causes, is coming soon on Friday, April 22. Columbus Area Opportunities Green Columbus has scheduled a week's worth of activities to lighten up and work towards a more sustainable city. On April 16 and 17, they are hosting work sites around the city. Volunteers who sign up by April 15 will receive sweet perks like swag and a token for free beer or Jeni's ice cream at the April 23rd celebration.

Speaking of the party, all are invited to the Earth Day Celebration at Franklin Park Conservatory's edible garden campus on Saturday April 23 from 11 am to 10 pm. Hosted by Green Columbus and ARTillary, guests will be treated to exhibits, music, children's activities, and more. Food and drink vendors using earth friendly tableware will be available.

Northstar Cafe is again hosting their free veggie burger on Earth Day at all Columbus locations. They've teamed up with the Nature Conservancy's Taste Conservation effort to inform and promote sustainable eating in Ohio.

Not in Columbus? Visit the Earth Day Network for activities across the country.

How Hounds in the Kitchen Celebrates Earth Day

Of course, many of us celebrate Earth Day every day. In 2010 I reflected on my mixed feelings about the holiday and listed simple habits to reduce my family's environmental impact.

On Earth Day this year, we will be driving home from our Massachusetts spring break vacation. In the coming week I will share some of the ways we try to stay green when we travel.

How do you celebrate Earth Day?

Easy Earth Day Challenge

I have mixed feelings about Earth Day, the 40th anniversary of which is celebrated today.  People celebrating and being educated once a year is great, no doubt.  In some ways (littering comes to mind), Earth Day education has inspired big changes. But the idea that people spend one day 'going green' to 'save the planet' is not enough.  Little updates in mindset and practices must happen day in and day out to make a difference.

So that's my challenge to you.  Over a meal together today with your family, or in a short conversation soon, choose one easy habit to adopt this year that will help take care of the earth's resources.  Here are some ideas:

• Switch to cloth napkins
• Plant a window box with lettuces
• Turn off lights more often
• Replace bulbs with compact flourescents (CFL)
• Replace a weekly drive with a walk or bike ride
• Buy more local real food
• Wash clothes in cold water
• Dry clothes on a clothes line
• Mow your lawn less frequently to retain moisture and require less watering
• Water your garden or lawn in early morning or late evening to lose less to evaporation
• Install or use your rain barrel
• Shop secondhand
• Use low energy cooking methods, like toaster oven when you're only cooking a small dish, raw foods, hand blender/chopper, etc.
• Inflate tires, drive 55, brake gently to increase gas mileage
• Switch out a toxic cleaning product for a non-toxic or homemade one
• Set the thermostat one degree higher in summer and one degree lower in winter
• Buy non perishables in bulk to save packaging
• Take cloth bags to the farmers market and grocery
• Wash clothes only when they are dirty
• Eat less meat
• Choose restaurants that recycle, compost waste, and/or use reusable dishes

Our family is committing to be better about turning off lights and fans when we leave a room.  It's a hard thing to remember and often we waste electricity this way.

We're also going to do better about hanging laundry on the line.  We are in the lazy habit of using the dryer right now, even though the weather is beautiful.  Let's make it measurable: at least one half of loads will go out on the line, weather permitting.

What easy habit will you form this year?  Leave a comment for support to make the change permanent!