Typically at this time of the year we’d release an article about how you and your kids can celebrate Earth Day (April 22) by enjoying outdoor learning experiences at a local eco-park, beach, or community garden. Things are different for the 2020 edition. Even if we flatten the curve by late April most households will maintain social distancing into the summer. As such, the activities you had in mind for the big day will be sidelined, but that doesn’t mean you need to skip Earth Day altogether. Quite the contrary, in fact. Instead, you can look to your own home and/or patio as the epicenter for your Earth Day 2020 agenda. Below are some ideas for how you can make that happen.
3 Ways to Recognize Earth Day 2020 from the Comforts of Your Family Home
1. Grow an Indoor or Patio Garden
Gardening and Earth Day go hand in hand. There are so many interconnected reasons to grow a small home garden, even if you don’t have a backyard to do so. For one, it helps reduce reliance on the supply chain to provide your household with nutritious vitamin and mineral rich foods. It also introduces photosynthesis into the home which makes for healthier and more breathable air. The third reason – is that it’s fun for your kids who are bored at home through current school closures.
Most home and garden retailers are open and have everything you need to get started. However, if you’re in a situation where you can’t or don’t want the family to make a run to a store for supplies, you can order packs of seeds and indoor gardening kits online. To help get you started, have a look at our guide to fruits and vegetables you can grow indoors.
Or if you would like to make your seed purchase do more than a transaction, please consider buying the Foundation’s organic seeds. When you buy our seeds, you help us sustain our work to provide educational resources to Canadian students so that they can experience the seed-to-table cycle and be inspired by nature. We have a limited selection of seeds that includes bush beans, green peas, Romaine lettuce, Easter mix radishes and Echinacea. Click here to shop in our store: https://shop.seewhatgrows.org/
2. Mad Scientist for Mother Earth
Kids LOVE whipping-up concoctions from a variety of things found in their home’s very own pantry. It brings out the mad scientist in all of them! But instead of creating of green goo to get smeared on the walls, focus on recipes that you can use to cleanse the home in an eco-friendly way. While deep-sterilizing alcohol-based (from the liquor cabinet) homemade mixtures should be saved for the grownups, there are lots of all-natural things your children can use for general cleaning. For example, they can combine vinegar, baking soda, lemon, and hot water to make a fresh smelling cleaning solution. For good measure, recycle empty plastic spray bottles for spritz and repurpose old t-shirts for wipes. Simply Google search “homemade cleaning solutions” for other ideas.
3. Create a Family Handbook for Sustainability
One thing that we’ve seen occur as daily life across the world has been disrupted, is that pollution is dissipating at a record pace. This satellite image from China shows the difference over a very short amount of time:
Courtesy of NASA
That same pattern is becoming evident across every major population center, Canada included.
The current crisis will abate, but we need to step up and make sure that the healing Mother Nature has experienced is not reversed. If each household takes the initiative, this can become a reality.
Get a giant scrapbook and lay out your family’s plan to do better in the year (and years) to come. Have every family member pledge to do one new thing, with each of you taking on a unique responsibility. Mom or dad may be charged with shopping at local farmers markets or natural food retailers, while children can take on recycling and composting duties. The more inventive one among you can come up with inspiring ways to repurpose abandoned things from around the home. Have your kids add creative elements (drawings, photos, clippings, dried leaves, etc.) to make this new family handbook worthy of display.
We’ll all be back enjoying the great outdoors together soon enough. But for now, let’s enjoy the inventive ways we can celebrate Earth Day from the sanctity of our very own homes. Learn more about the movement, which is in its 50th year, here.
