Let Earth Day Be Every Day

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

Today is Earth Day. In fact, it is the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day. There are all sorts of ways to celebrate Earth Day and honor Nature and the Earth, but today I would like to encourage you to do one simple thing: Reuse and repurpose the things you already have. Don’t buy anything new.

Don’t hyperventilate — I don’t mean for the rest of your life. I mean for one day. Then try again tomorrow. And again the day after that. One day at a time. Sort of like participating in a 12-step program. When you break down and buy something you don’t need, don’t run to confession or flagelate yourself. Simply ask yourself: Do I really need this? I’m guessing the answer will most often be a resounding “NO,” as it has been for my imperfect self on more occasions than I am able to count. Simply remember that “NO” the next time you head to your online “cart” or “checkout” icon. I think you will find that you begin to purchase fewer and fewer new things, and that over time you even lose the yearning to purchase new things.

If going a day without purchasing something new seems like a dautning proposition, consider that advertisers have spun their spells on you and those spells have you believing a lie. We do not need most of what we buy. Nothing we buy can make us healthier, sexier, more popular, more likeable, or even more cherished by our own partners and children. We can do all of those things on our own, without purchasing one more new thing. And we can become addicted to shopping, like anything else. The problem is that shopping is one addiction that actually harms the Earth. How’s that? This Newsweek article that is already more than a decade old shares how our everyday purchases contribute to the destruction of the Earth.

Simply choosing not to buy one thing — or choosing not to buy anything on one day or over the course of a week or a month or a year — may not seem like a big deal. But, in fact, if the nearly eight billion people alive on Earth today made this simple decision, it would have a huge impact and contribute to saving the planet.

The Earth is my people. Earth Day is my people, too. And, of course, you are, as well. Let’s do this.