22 Impactful Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

This year on April 22, many people are wondering how to celebrate Earth Day. However, while Earth Day is a resurging holiday that is helping raise awareness for ecological problems, it’s quite clear the Earth needs our attention and consideration for more than just one day out of the year.

That is why we have compiled a list of 22 things you can do on Earth Day and every day of the year to celebrate our planet in 2022. You can use these tips right away, and keep using them throughout the year.

Keep reading to learn more about several practical and meaningful acts of service you can add to your daily routine to promote sustainability and green living.

Here are 22 ways to celebrate earth day:

1. Walk or Bike When Possible

If you live in an area where you can walk or bike, now might be the time to start giving your SUV a rest. Obviously, you may still need to use your motorized vehicle to commute to work, but this doesn’t mean you still can’t park the car after work and choose to walk to the grocery store or your favorite restaurant. Consider walking or riding your bike whenever possible to reduce your carbon footprint throughout the entire year.

2. Carpool with a Coworker

Need to commute to work? No problem, alternate days with a friend or coworker to ensure your entire office carpools throughout the week. At times, carpooling may not seem like the most practical of commuting methods, but once you commit yourself to the new routine you will find it brings you a good amount of joy and pride. After all, what can be better than helping the earth and finding time to chat with a good friend?

3. Check Your Tire Pressure

Whether you’re into a carpool situation or not, it’s still important to make sure your tires are properly inflated. Completing this simple task can improve your vehicle’s fuel efficiency, which in turn saves you money and limits your vehicle’s carbon emissions. A single gallon of gas sends roughly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. So, while adding a little air to your tires might not seem like a lot, limiting your carbon emissions in any way possible is key to reversing the climate crisis.

Earth Day Advice: Do you know where to find the recommended tire pressure for your car? There should be a sticker inside the driver’s door frame that shows cold tire pressure, measured in PSI (pounds per square inch).

4. Purchase Carbon Offsets

Know you will be traveling a lot this year? Purchase carbon offsets to negate any carbon emissions you contribute to the atmosphere by flying, driving or shopping online. These offsets can be purchased from several reputable sources. Native Energy and 3Degrees are two nationally recognized programs.

5. Volunteer Your Time

A great way to have a positive impact throughout the entire year is to volunteer your time to a green organization or an organization that is otherwise working to solve climate change. Most likely, there are several organizations within your local community that organize regularly to implement their outreach and mission. Earth Day presents a great opportunity to get started with one of these organizations but continuing to volunteer is the only way to have a lasting impact.

6. Eliminate Single-Use Plastics

Single-use plastics are a big problem. According to Earth Day organizers, about 1 million plastic water bottles are purchased in the United States every minute. Switching to a reusable water bottle may not seem like a big step, but by doing so you could help to eliminate plastic waste and prevent more plastic from ending up in our oceans. Did you know that some environmental scientists estimate that by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans?

7. Develop a Recycling Plan

Recycling is not only one of the most popular Earth Day celebrations, but it is also one of the easiest. To recycle properly you don’t have to buy any supplies (in fact you might need to buy less), it takes just a few minutes, and it’s an actionable step you can work seamlessly into your everyday routine. Recycling is also a great way to get younger children involved in Earth Day celebrations and teach them about sustainable living.

Earth Day Advice: Starting to recycle? Consider these 7 tips to recycle like a pro.

8. Fix Leaky Faucets

Even the smallest drip in your bathroom, from your kitchen faucet, or from your lawn sprinkler system can waste drastic amounts of water on a yearly basis (not to mention run up your water bill). According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the totality of leaks nationwide accounts for more than 1 trillion gallons of wasted water annually. Still think that slight dribble isn’t that much of a problem?

9. Source Your Produce Locally

Sure, taking a trip to your local farmer’s market makes for a fun Saturday morning, but can this really help the environment? Yes! Consistently purchasing local produce is a great way to positively contribute to your community’s farmers and artisans. Furthermore, by buying locally, you’re reducing transportation and production costs, which subsequently helps reduce carbon emissions.

10. Plant Trees or Donate to a Cause that Does

This tried-and-true Earth Day celebration is one of the most important things you can do to help improve air quality—work your green thumb by planting trees throughout the year. If you don’t know much about landscaping or tree planting, don’t worry! You can take a class at your local hardware store or volunteer with a local tree-planting campaign. Alternately, you can save your extra change and put it to work as a “plant a tree fund.”  Then at the end of each month, you can either plant the trees yourself or donate your savings to a local organization.

11. Construct a Bird House

After you plant a tree in your backyard or at your local park, consider constructing a birdhouse to either place in that tree (or a neighboring tree that can better support the weight). Getting your kids involved in the construction process is another great way to spread the Earth Day celebration and introduce them to new skills.

Earth Day Advice: Check out these 27 Free DIY birdhouse plans from The Spruce to help you build a masterpiece today!

12. Purchase a Field Guide & Record Your Sightings

After you construct your birdhouse and place it in your backyard, you can also purchase a birding field guide from your local outdoor store. A book of this type will provide you with all the information you need to identify the various birds that come to check out your home or visit your backyard. Consider putting out bird feeders to attract different species, and then record your sightings with a local agency or by using an app like eBird.

13. Take Your Friends & Family Outdoors

It is not only proven that hiking can have a positive impact on one’s physical health, but the activity can also positively influence one’s mental health and mood. Hiking solo is great but remember to take your family and friends with you occasionally. This will not only help spread the good cheer but also positively influence others to become just as passionate about protecting our natural resources.

14. Purchase a National Park Pass

Looking to hike longer and more often? Consider purchasing a national park pass the whole family can use. The National Park Service offers annual passes at a rate of $80. These America the Beautiful passes are good for entrance into more than 2,000 federal recreation areas across the nation. That’s a lot of hiking!

Earth Day Advice: While you are hiking through our nation’s national parks, stop into the closest visitor center to attend a ranger-led talk, walk or hike. These programs are a great way to learn more about our nation’s wild spaces and sustainable practices.

15. Make Your Flowerbeds Pollinator-Friendly

On average, for every three bites of food you consume, one of them is directly produced through the efforts of pollinators. These bees, bats, butterflies and beetles may be small, but they are mighty. Planting the right plants in your flowerbeds and cutting down weeds are just two contributions you can consistently make to get your flowerbeds in prime shape for pollination.

16. Update Your Lightbulbs

These days there are quite a few lightbulb options. A large percentage of these lightbulbs are highly efficient compared to the bulbs of the past. Consider updating your lightbulbs this Earth Day and replacing blown-out bulbs with eco-efficient options throughout the year to lower your home’s energy consumption.

17. Contact Your Legislator

Concerned about the environment at a larger state or national level? Consider sending a letter about your concerns or giving your representative or senator a call. Most likely you will only get into contact with their secretary or assistant, but even this can affect change if enough people reach out with concerns.

18. Start a Compost Bin

Reduce your landfill contributions by starting a compost bin. You can use these bins to collect coffee grounds, veggie scraps, grass clippings and more. Then, after you get your composting system all set up, you can use these scraps to fertilize your garden or yard. In total, this project will only take a few hours and you can build a compost bin out of wood, an old trash can or other materials you already have laying around your home.

19. Go for a Walk & Collect Litter Along the Way

Everyone can contribute to the Earth Day festivities and the continuous mission to help our environment by picking up litter they find around their neighborhood. A great way to consistently carry out this task is to transform your daily walks through your neighborhood into litter walks. See a few soda cans while walking fido, pick them up to spruce up your neighborhood and prevent these items from reaching a waterway.

20. Plan out Your Eco-Goals

A productive way to celebrate Earth Day is to carve out some time on the holiday to plan out how you are going to live more eco-friendly moving forward. Similar to crafting new year’s resolutions, you should make these goals measurable, meaningful, and achievable.

Earth Day Advice: Use our tailored Earth Day template to record your annual eco-goals and track your progress throughout the year!

21. Donate to a National Environmental Organization

Already working hard to make a difference locally? Consider donating a few extra dollars to a national eco-organization to spread out your influence. The Environmental Defense Fund and The Nature Conservancy are two organizations that consistently do great work in support of the environment and in the fight against climate change.

22. Read & Learn More About Sustainable Living

There is always more to learn, and sustainable living practices are always evolving and changing. The best way to be a better resource for the environment is to be better informed about the factors negatively affecting it and the solutions we can take to directly combat these changes.

Earth Day Celebration Questions:

When is Earth Day 2022?

Earth Day will be celebrated worldwide on Friday, April 22^nd, 2022.

How did Earth Day begin?

The first Earth Day was celebrated in April of 1970. This holiday was enacted by Sen. Gaylord Nelson to raise awareness of the need for regulatory measures to protect the nation’s natural resources and the larger environment.

What are the best ways to celebrate Earth Day?

There are an endless number of ways to get involved on Earth Day. Consider planting a tree, reducing your carbon emissions, or vowing to eliminate single-use plastics from your living routine. Once you successfully celebrate Earth Day by making strides to go green, you can continue this effort to have a positive impact on the environment for the entire year. Reversing the climate crisis will take all of us.

How do I celebrate Earth Day at home?

You can celebrate Earth Day at home in a number of ways. Common Earth Day practices that can be completed at home include developing a recycling plan, fixing leaky faucets, eliminating single-use plastics, sourcing produce locally, planting trees, starting a compost bin, constructing a birdhouse and more.

How do I celebrate Earth Day in the office?

Bring Earth Day to your work by carpooling with a coworker, updating lightbulbs, planning out your eco-goals, having an Earth Day conversation with your coworkers or planning a team-building hike.

How do I celebrate Earth Day with kids?

Getting kids involved in Earth Day festivities is easy and fun! Start by riding your bikes to the park, planting trees or a pollinator-friendly flower bed, volunteering your time, purchasing a national park pass or going on a litter walk. Finish the day by reading them a wildlife bedtime story or teaching them more about sustainable living.