Earth Day Checklist
Who said it wasn't easy being green?
This Earth Day it's easier to be "green" than ever before. And that is a true reason to celebrate. So grab your pen and paper and write down a few fun activities you'd like to accomplish. I'd love to hear what other people are doing for Earth Day! Here's my list:
My Earth Day Checklist:
1. Turning Off My Computer to Walk Outside (preferably on a bike path): There's so much noise during the day that I'm feeling the need to find a quiet place and listen to sounds that don't resemble a keyboard. I'm sure most people aren't online as much as I am, but I truly feel recharged when I'm away from plugs that feed my laptop. And since it's Earth Day I'm going to try and make it longer than just a green hour.
2. Identify Wildlife I Can't Recognize: On said walk, I'm making it a goal to learn at least one new species. I usually am such a field guide fanatic that I don't wander far without them, but I've also been known to take pictures with my cell phone and reference the birds or plants through their traits when I return. Either way, I'm planing to wildlife watch because that's something I am absolutely fascinated with.
3. Knock Off a Few Magazines I Don't Need: At some point today I plan to visit my Catalog Choice account and mark off a few more magazines that I don't want anymore. While there are some magazines that are great for learning purposes, catalogs are something I don't need!
4. Start a New Compost Pile: Since my move I hadn't had the chance to figure out where my new compost pile is going to be. I've dedicated this afternoon to laying down the foundation. 
5. Feed the Birds (squirrels) in My Yard: Ok, so this one is cheating because I have bird seed already, and pretty much already feed the squirr--er birds, in my yard. But it's important I refill the feeder especially on Earth Day. I also should look into a more effective feeder so the birds get some seed.
6. Take Some Nature Photographs: I've been meaning to do this recently but just haven't had the chance. I took Nature Photography in college, and think it's a really neat way to enjoy the outdoors. So even though I can't enter the contest, it's a great day to capture the beauty of nature!
7. Drop Off My Used Batteries: I collect these guys for an extended period of time and eventually I must turn them in. I know it's not very 'earthy' but I am attempting to dispose of the little energy suppliers correctly.
8. Free My Inner Activist: Since working at NWF I've had the opportunity to take action more than the average person. But that doesn't make it less important. I plan on catching up on action alerts and making a few calls today in hopes to make my case for Mother Earth.
Earth Day can be just as cheery as Christmas -- but the trees stay in the forest. What I mean is, this can be a time where we celebrate our successes and how we've grown in understanding our impact. I hope everyone considers making a checklist or at least giving me a few pointers with mine. Don't forget to get outside today! It's Earth Day and National Wildlife Week and we should all be very proud and excited for life and all it's glorious biodiversity.
Nice blog! I hadn't seen it until today.
This is what I plan to do:
1) I plan to finally get around to applying for the backyard habitat thing. I've been wanting to do it for years.
2) writing a series of posts about earthday on one of my blogs
3) restarting writing in my butterfly gardening blog.
4) I'm hoping to have time to walk outside a bit - it was raining earlier, but sunny now - and see how my garden is coming along.
Posted by: Trisha | April 22, 2008 at 02:50 PM
Delightful list! I think I'll do mostly the same, except cap it off with some fresh-picked dandelion tea, sow some wild henna seeds in a vacant lot, collect some fallen nuts for dinner, roast them over a buffalo dung fire in the open prarie, while dancing naked, howling at the moon, and perhaps copulating with the indigenous wildlife or even a knot in an old majestic oak. O nature, I love thee...
Posted by: Grover McWally | April 22, 2008 at 06:43 PM
I'm not really opposed to your ideals, but we all know somewhere in this world, someone is gonna fill the pollution gap you left.
It's not just "help the environment for this day", rather, make it a habit..
btw, i dunno when earth day is. xD
usually, i go to the local wildlife sanctuary every weekends and help there.
@Grover McWally: are you a druid or a werewolf? or just nuts..xD jk
Posted by: allan | April 23, 2008 at 07:14 AM
We marvel that a hundred years ago some scientists thought that a man could not survive traveling over 25 miles an hour. I believe that people of the future will marvel that we wasted billions of
dollars and dozens of years on ideas such as Earth Day and Global warming when the solution
to all our energy and pollution problems was within easy grasp. Our real problems are political,
regulatory and legislative. If government clears the way, American can stop paying
tyrants, terrorists and dictators for oil. Once that oil money vanishes, all the world's
trouble makers dry up and blow away. We have all the energy we need now in the form of our own nuclear power,oil, coal, and natural gas. If we fund research into solar and even more exotic forms of alternative energy the future will be secure as well. Keeping the cash at home will make us economically secure. Not turning corn into ethanol will get the world fed again. Getting rid of our addiction to foreign oil stops all oil wars. Few things are more wasteful, expensive, or kill more people needlessly than oil wars.
Posted by: poetryman69 | April 23, 2008 at 07:59 PM
Let us a little permit Nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.
Posted by: green thinking | May 22, 2008 at 11:44 PM