8 Ideas for Celebrating Earth Day + Environmentally Friendly Jewelry

Earth Day is celebrated around the world every year on April 22 and is intended as a way to demonstrate support for our planet and its environment. First celebrated in 1970, April 22, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of this important day, and now over 193 countries participate in Earth Day events. In fact, in 2016 the United Nations chose Earth Day as the day to sign into force the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.

When it was first created back in 1970, Earth Day was a way to express a growing public awareness about the state of our planet, and became a launching point for environmental protection measures and laws such as the Clear Air Act, the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts in the US and even the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Many other countries also followed suit and introduced similar environmental protection laws.

Earth Day 2020’s Theme

Today, awareness about the health of our planet is greater than ever and many strides have been made in environmental protection, but there is still a great deal of work to be done. With many scientific and environmental organizations arguing that climate change is the greatest environmental threat we are currently facing, climate action was appropriately designated as the theme for Earth Day 2020. This theme highlights both the challenge of climate change as well as the opportunity we have to take action against it.

So what can you do to express your support for Earth Day?

Voltaire’s famous quote that “no snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible,” probably expresses how many of us feel when it comes to what we can do by ourselves to actually help the environment, but quite the contrary, there are things you can do to make a difference. Here are 8 ideas to consider.

1. BYO shopping bags to reduce the use of plastic bags. Like all plastic, plastic bags are made from crude oil, a non-renewable and environmentally destructive resource. When plastic bags are manufactured they emit a great deal of pollution and when they are discarded, they don’t degrade and instead slowly release toxic chemicals into the soil.
2. Cut back on your meat consumption. This will help minimize the strain placed on environmental resources caused by excessive demand for meat products.
3. Plant a vegetable patch, an herb garden, or fruit trees. Not only will you eventually harvest some delicious and organic produce, but you’ll help cut down on carbon emissions as growing your own food eliminates the delivery middle man.
4. Recycle of course! Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste, and it reduces the need to grow, harvest, extract, refine, and process new, raw materials from the earth, all of which creates substantial air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
5. Ride your bicycle instead of your car sometimes. If you live close enough to school or work, why not ride your bike there instead of driving your car? In addition to reducing your carbon footprint, you’ll also get a great workout. Alternatively, if you’re not close to your workplace or school or simply can’t bike, consider public transportation to help reduce the number of cars on the road.
6. Use a refillable water bottle or coffee cup. Buy yourself a reusable cup for your morning coffee purchases, so you don’t add to the growing pile of coffee-related garbage. And use refillable water cups instead of bottles made from plastic. Just because you recycle the plastic bottles you use doesn’t mean the process that was used to create it didn’t hurt the environment. When you use refillable bottles you reduce the demand for the plastic bottles.
7. Support your local farmer’s market. By buying from the local farmer’s market you can help reduce carbon emissions since locally grown produce doesn’t have to travel far to get from farm to table.
8. Make environmentally friendly jewelry and fashion choices. There is beautiful vintage clothing to be had, and in fact many wise shoppers find not only bargains, but downright beautiful and stylish vintage wear. Buying clothing already made is great for the earth because it doesn’t require new resources. Buying online can be more earth friendly too: According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, “online shopping is less energy-intensive than going to a store in person”.
9. The same is true for jewelry. When you order jewelry online, you don’t have to worry about transportation to and from a brick and mortar store, which the same Times report said was the single most important factor in making e-commerce less energy consumptive than bricks-and-mortar shopping. Another option is to buy from companies that follow environmentally friendly business practices or from companies like Bohami that donate part of their income to local environmental charities or international environmental organizations.

Beautiful Bohami bracelet

And with online jewelry, you can create gorgeous custom made jewelry pieces that are designed to your specific tastes and can cater to your budget, or that use sentimental gold and recycled elements from other jewelry you have. And of course, you can even create custom jewelry with a nature or Earth-Day theme.

Ready to honor Earth Day with your own custom-made Earth Day jewelry?