Happy Earth Day! What better way to celebrate than choosing to make some positive changes in your everyday life!
Whether you want to reduce your carbon footprint, teach your kids about the importance of protecting the environment, or support a company that makes donations to earth-conscious charities, we’ve found 80 things to do on Earth Day.
Earth Day Activities for Kids
1. Build a kid-friendly garden bed.
2. Plant a backyard tree.
3. Create a DIY indoor herb garden.
4. Make an Earth Day pledge.
5. Run a pollution experiment.
6. Upcycle broken crayons into a multi-colored earth crayon.
7. Create an upcycled plastic suncatcher.
8. Attract birds to your yard by building a milk carton bird feeder.
9. Make newspaper seed-starting pots and plant them!
10. Make a decorative sign for Mom out of old buttons.
11. Play a recycle-sort game.
12. Talk about the importance of bees.
13. Teach your kids the process of composting with this compost-in-a-bottle project.
14. Run a can-you-undo-water-pollution experiment—spoiler alert: You can’t.
15. Attract butterflies to your garden.
16. Upcycle old CDs into a gorgeous mandala.
17. Plant wildflower seeds in the backyard to attract bees!
18. Have a nature scavenger hunt to get your kids outside and learning.
19. Make these colorful and fun seed papers and remember to plant them!
20. Enjoy the beautiful outdoors on a family hike.
21. Make decorations for the garden that are totally upcycled!
22. Bring new life to old or broken teacups with these crafts.
High School Earth Day Activities
23. Start a compost bin.
24. Build a PVC wind turbine.
25. Create art out of recycled materials.
26. Establish a recycling program at school.
27. Switch classroom printers to double-sided to save paper.
28. Clean up a public park.
29. Build a DIY rain barrel for the campus.
30. Upcycle bottles into beeswax candles.
31. Compare light bulbs to learn about the importance of energy efficient bulbs.
Office Earth Day Projects
32. Encourage carpooling and taking public transportation to work.
33. Take lunch at a restaurant that supports local farmers.
34. Plant a rooftop garden.
35. Plan a work-from-home day to save energy at the office.
36. Lights out for the day—save energy costs.
37. Provide each employee with a recycling bin for their desk.
38. Encourage employees to take the stairs! You’ll save energy and get a workout.
Reducing Your Carbon Footprint at Home
39. Calculate your carbon footprint. The results will probably surprise you.
40. Do meatless Mondays for a month.
41. Grow a garden to help reduce CO2.
42. Invest in green energy through your energy provider. If you live in the Puget Sound, PSE offers a green energy program that really doesn’t add all that much to your current bill! Seriously, we didn’t even notice a price increase.
43. Switch out your outdoor lights to solar.
44. Toss out those chemical household cleaners and switch to a natural alternative. Method is my favorite brand! The grapefruit all-purpose cleaner smells so good!
45. Switch your paper bills to online/paperless billing.
46. Pack your lunch in a reusable bag.
47. Pack your snacks in reusable plastic bags. These ones are great!
48. Bring reusable bags when you go shopping. Many places in the U.S. have already banned plastic bags, anyways!
Reducing Your Water Footprint
49. Calculate your water footprint.
50. Buy one of these eco-friendly shower heads to save water.
51. Make it a family goal to turn the water off when you brush your teeth.
52. Switch to a low-flow toilet.
53. Have a family competition to see who can take the shortest showers!
54. Don’t run the dishwasher until it’s full. No half-loads here!
55. Reuse your pasta water! Let it cool, and your plants will love it.
56. Invest in a high-efficiency washer.
57. Check your toilet, faucets, tubs, and showers for leaks.
Investing in Your Community
58. Get involved in restoration projects.
59. Establish a community garden.
60. Attend an Earth Day environment class!
62. Host a dinner party that features all local food.
63. Gather up some friends and host a neighborhood cleanup party!
64. Weed community gardens of invasive species and plant native plants.
65. Adopt a tree.
Earth-Conscious Companies to Buy From
66. Earth Play on Etsy—Cute earrings that donate 30% of their profits to animal and earth conservation charities!
67. Pura Vida—Cute bracelets that support a wide variety of charities, everything from mental health awareness to whales.
68. Lush—Next time you get a bath bomb, grab a charity pot! The lotion is great and 100% of the proceeds go to a wide variety of charities.
69. Patagonia—Patagonia donates at least 1% of all corporate earnings to grassroots organizations. And they encourage their customers to not buy new jackets if they don’t need them. Now there’s an interesting concept for a retail company…
70. GriffinReynoldsArt on Etsy—Add a cute pin to your denim jacket with this company that donates 10% of the proceeds from its sales to the Pollinator Partnership.
71. automatte on Etsy—Need some artwork? Get this gorgeous print and 50% of your purchase will be donated to the Natural Resources Defense Council
72. DaBombFizzers on Etsy—Kick back and relax with a nice bath, and use a bath bomb that donates 100% of the proceeds to earth conservation charities!
73. Happy Earth Apparel—The cutest casual wear that donates half of their net profits to earth-conscious charities.
74. Tentree—Wanna do a little online shopping and plant some trees? This company plants 10 trees for every item purchased!
75. Sand Cloud—Beach towels that will make a statement and donate 10% of their sales to water conservation.
Making Every Day Earth Day
There are lots of small steps we can take that will add up to big changes in the long run. The key here is being consistent and encouraging others to follow in your footsteps!
76. Go through your closet and donate rarely worn clothes to Goodwill, Value Village, or Savers. There are also lots of shelters and charities that would gladly take clothes off your hands.
77. And if you do buy clothes … get them second-hand! I’ve found some of my favorite pieces at thrift stores and on consignment websites like Poshmark and Vinted.
78. Bring a reusable water bottle everywhere! You won’t have to pay for water, and if you buy the right bottle, your water will stay cold literally all day.
79. And while we’re on that topic, if you’re a daily coffee drinker like me, bring a mug to the coffee shop! Usually, you’ll get some kind of discount, and your coffee will actually stay hot. Because who likes cold coffee?
80. Make it a conscious habit to turn off the lights when you leave a room. It’s simple, but it can be a hard habit to break!
Nice list!