Making an Earth Day Difference While You’re Indoors
This year marks the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! This year’s theme was Climate Action. Since many of us can’t spend much time outside, authors April Pulley Sayre and JoAnn Early Macken offer ideas and activities to be eco-friendly this spring while outdoor time is limited.
- Start with where you are. Are you in a giant termite mound, a bird’s nest, a moray eel cave, or a tree hole with flying squirrels? No? Well, where are you? How is it different from those wild animal places?
- Animals need food, water, and shelter. The place where you are right now is your shelter. It may be a basement, an apartment, a waiting room, a tent, a mobile home, an office, a barn, or something else. Getting to know your shelter, and its connections to climate, will help you find earth helper actions.
- Draw a diagram of your shelter as if you were an engineer. That diagram can be a box, not fancy or detailed. The main idea is flow. What goes into that box? What comes out? Survey the place like a detective. Observe. Try to include every stinky detail: the food, garbage, sink water, toilet water, air, even invisible things like electricity. (Just do not mess with electrical outlets or gas. Be safe! And get any permission you need before taking action.)
- Who helps the flow to and from the box? In nature, nestling birds create poop in handy takeout bags called fecal sacs. The bird parents pick these up in their beaks, fly off, and drop them far away. Predators cannot smell the nest and find it easily. Who makes all the inflows and outflows work in and around your shelter? Who maintains pipes and wires and doors? How can you reduce, reuse, and conserve items used inside so you do not produce as much garbage?
- Learn about indoor air quality, including the effects of plants. Certain kinds of houseplants help clean the air. Spider plants do. Look up green walls, green rooftops, and the like. Read up on terrariums, Biosphere 1 and 2, and NASA experiments with helping humans live sustainably indoors, even on another planet. Create ideas for your current shelter or a shelter of the future.
- Are you in the cityscape or countryside? Get to know the wildlife in your neighborhood. Learn where squirrels wander. Add a bird feeder to your yard or windowsill. Practice identifying birds with a field guide or a web site like Cornell University’s All About Birds (www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search). Be a citizen scientist.
- Grow something green! Plant a tree. Grow a pollinator garden. Sprout beans or seeds—they’re easy, fun, and healthful. Keep a jar on your kitchen counter and rinse them a few times a day.
- Practice the power of thank yous. Are there people in your life who are alone? Or who are helping your community by being out and about while you stay home? Help lift their spirits with art and heart.
- Write emails or cards or create online videos and messages to thank them.
- Using the same kinds of tools, let elected officials or company executives know what you care about and what you have learned about the environment. Do they know that you care about parks, even ones you cannot visit today?
- Make thank you signs from boxes or wrapping paper. Spell out special messages with writing and drawing tools or objects around your house. Place a sign in your window. Or photograph the art and send it by email or text.
- It is a busy time. Recipients may not be able to open a letter or say thank you back. But seeing a bit of your heart and art might lift a spirit and create a smile. With many of us working together, the indoor climate, outdoor climate, and emotional climate can be healthier and happier for all.
Resources
Thank You, Earth, by April Pulley Sayre. Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2018.
Cityscape, by April Pulley Sayre. Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2020. A picture book about exploring the science and math of the city, perhaps the view from your window.
Hornets and Hippos, a program and book by Margaret Jessop, PsyD, for families and children to learn to reduce stress. margaretjessoppsyd.com/hornets-and-hippos/
Earth Day website: www.earthday.org/
Blog text by April Pulley Sayre and JoAnn Early Macken
April Pulley Sayre (www.aprilsayre.com/) is a photo-illustrator and award-winning author of 75 books, including Thank You, Earth and Cityscape.
JoAnn Early Macken (www.joannmacken.com) is the author of Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move; Baby Says “Moo!”; and Waiting Out the Storm.