6 DIY Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

A pair of hands holding a small globe with a bunch of tools surrounding it.

Earth Day is considered the birthday of the modern environmental movement—April 22, 1970—a day when everyone is supposed to take a little extra time to consider the world around them. What can you do for the Earth today? The problems the planet faces are truly vast, and it can be pretty overwhelming. How can one person help swing the scales when there’s so much bad that’s already been done? There’s actually a lot of little ways that you can do a whole lot of good for the rest of the world. Try a few or all of these DIYs, and give the Earth a really great birthday present this year.

1. Don't Drive Your Car

Do the Earth a favor for the day and leave your car at home. Opt to walk or cycle, and you'll be adding zero emissions into the environment. (It doesn't count if you use a driving service instead.) But if you have to travel a pretty good distance, you can give yourself a break and opt for public transportation to reduce your carbon footprint.

2. Skip the Red Meat

A woman holding a wood box of produce that she's going to enjoy instead of red meat on Earth Day.

It takes many more pounds of grain to create even one pound of consumable red meat. Consuming less red meat helps the environment and helps conserve the world's grain supply, so you'll really be doing the environment a favor. Trading red meat for veggies or soy products for even one meal can have a huge impact if you decide to do it once a week!

3. Fix Your Leaks

A leaky faucet, even if it's just a little drip, leads to a lot of water waste. Water conservation is becoming more important every year, so do your part for Earth Day by fixing your leaks. Many small leaks can be replaced by simply replacing a faucet or faucet parts. You'll also save yourself some money on your water bill in the long run so, ultimately, both you and the Earth will benefit.

4. Convert to Paperless Billing

Your local utility companies, car insurance company, and other regular bills probably all have websites. It's highly likely that all your regular bills offer a paperless billing option. So for Earth Day, get online and select this feature. Simply by choosing to go paperless, you'll be saving dozens of trees in your lifetime, and the Earth will love you for it!

5. Catch Rainwater

A rain barrel that was installed as a way to celebrate Earth Day.

Do you turn on the hose or fill up a watering can when your garden and landscape areas start to look thirsty? Stop! For Earth Day, set up a system to catch rainwater so that you can use this to keep your green areas looking...well, green. Even a simple barrel will do to catch rainwater, but you can get more sophisticated by digging French drains or redirecting your downspouts.

6. Get Outside to Enjoy and Appreciate Nature

Life gets rough sometimes. Money gets tight, the boss gets on your back—and, let's face it, the family isn't always a picnic, either. It's easy to forget to take a look around at the bigger picture every once in a while. Do that this Earth Day, and just go outside for a little while. Take a look around, breathe in the fresh air, and notice all the many beauties you can find in nature. Even the bugs are beautiful in their own way because they're part of a highly complicated and diverse ecosystem. The best way to celebrate Earth Day is to simply take a few minutes to celebrate the Earth itself, and remember why environmental health is such a big deal.

7. Make Every Day Earth Day

Taking some extra time to do something good for the planet on Earth Day really can go a long way toward healing global environmental problems. But if you try to do little things every single day to help the Earth, you can do even more to heal the world. Turn out the lights when you exit every room. Turn off the faucet while you’re brushing your teeth to save water. Walk every once in a while rather than taking your car. And in a bunch of little ways, the Earth will become a better place for everyone.