April 22, 2021, marks the 51st anniversary of Earth Day- a day where we come together to show our love and appreciation for the planet. Earth Day is an annual worldwide event celebrated on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental conservation and protection efforts. The first Earth Day celebration was held in 1970 and has been observed annually to date. It's currently coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network and celebrated in more than 200 countries across the globe each year. 

The 2020 Earth Day celebrations were quite different as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year, there's a glimmer of hope with the ongoing vaccination initiative. All signs point towards the traditional festivities associated with the day's celebration. Remarkably, the pandemic was a blessing in disguise for our planet. Following the total shut down of society, the planet experienced a significant drop in pollution levels and a rebalancing of nature- animals and plants reclaimed a significant place in the ecosystem.

With the 2021 Earth Day celebrations fast approaching, there are many ways you can show appreciation for the environmental protection efforts and help save our dear planet. Here are ten different ways to celebrate Earth Day. 

10 Different Ways to Celebrate Earth Day 

1.                  Plant Trees 

Planting trees is one of the best ways to celebrate Earth Day owing to the extensive benefits they offer to the planet. Trees are an essential part of our ecosystem; they give us oxygen, store carbon, improve the soil's water-holding capacity, nitrogen fixation of the soil, provide habitat to 80% of the planet's terrestrial biodiversity, regulate temperature extremes, and enhance the land's capacity to adapt to climate change by sequestering carbon and other greenhouse gases. Trees also provide key ingredients in more than 25% of our medicines. 

By simply planting a tree in your yard, you will greatly contribute to the efforts being made to combat climate change and ensure our planet's overall health and wellness. Planting trees may sound simplistic, but is now more important than ever. We recently lost crucial biodiversity in Australia and the Amazon Rainforest (the planet's lungs) through devastating wildfires. So, this coming Earth Day, ensure to plant at least one tree.   

2.                 Recycle Water Resources 

While 71% of the Earth's surface is covered in water, only 3% of that is freshwater. Of the 3%, only .007% is available for consumption by over 6.8 billion people. From this statistic, you can see that consumable water is scarce and needs to be recycled. 

Recycling isn't just for paper and plastic- water can also be recycled. Some of the ways you can recycle water at home include; repurpose expired drinking water, creating a rain garden, installing water-conservative plant irrigation systems, reroute water used for washing vegetables to maybe watering plants or flushing the toilet, installing a  gutter system for rainwater storage, and using a shower bucket to collect excess water that drips down when showering. 

3.                 Use Clean Energy 

By using clean energy, you can offset your carbon footprint or your business's carbon footprint. There are various websites that allow you to easily calculate your carbon footprint and subsequently recommend actions you can take to lower your CO2 emissions. Some ways for you to adopt clean energy include riding a bicycle to work, walking, taking public transportation instead of driving, and carpooling.  

4.                 Influence Others 

Another excellent way to celebrate Earth Day is to influence others to conserve and protect the environment. You can certainly make a significant impact by inspiring others to join your efforts. You can talk to your peers about the importance of protecting our planet and provide ideas on what they can do to save Earth. For instance, you can tell them to use reusable bags, use reusable beverage containers, print only when necessary, save electricity, conserve water, send them reading material on conservation, and carpool when possible. 

5.                 Reduce and Reuse 

We live in a society that loves to toss things out after use.  This culture has detrimental effects on the environment, notably the accumulation of composts in our seas, oceans, and landfills. Reducing or reusing items has a positive impact on our planet by limiting the creation of additional waste. Some of the ways you can reduce and reuse items include avoiding using disposable items like napkins, plates, spoons, and cups that lead to increased waste. Instead, opt for reusable items such as reusable straws, cups, water bottles, and multi-use shopping bags. 

6.                 Buy Local 

On Earth Day, like most days, choose to purchase your food, fruits, veggies, and other necessary supplies through local vendors. By doing this, you're contributing to environmental conservation. This is because food and other grocery store suppliers travel an average of 1,500 miles to get to you, and all that shipping has the potential to cause pollution with an increase in fuel consumption and carbon emissions. When you buy locally, you're not only conserving the environment by cutting down on CO2 emissions but also reinforcing the local economy.

7.                 Participate in a Challenge 

There are various challenges that are conducted on Earth Day to spread awareness on the importance of environmental conservation. These initiatives and empowering acts bring people together from all over the globe, enabling them to learn about climate and health-related environmental impacts in their communities. Besides, these challenges will test your knowledge of climate change and other key aspects of the environment. Above all, you stand a chance to win great prizes, recognition, or even a scholarship. 

8.                 Donate or Join a Local Environmental Organization 

On Earth Day, you can show your appreciation for organizations in the front line in conserving the environment. Sometimes, you may be limited on the amount of time you have to participate in the celebrations or have financial constraints that limit your involvement. You can pool with others by donating the little you have towards nonprofit organizations addressing environmental issues; whether it means reposting a campaign or donating a dollar towards a conservation project.

Suppose you're not aware of any good organizations. In that case, you can use the Charity Navigator- a website that ranks charities for effectiveness and transparency- to find an ideal organization to donate to. Some of the best charities you can consider include: Earth Justice, Rainforest Alliance, Drawdown, Plastics for Change, Environmental Defense Fund, World Wildlife Foundation, Oceana, Rainforest Action Network, and Sierra Club, among others.  

Aside from donating, you can join a local organization. Depending on your country or state, you can join numerous environmental groups and organizations as a volunteer to help conserve the environment. In these organizations or groupings, you'll meet individuals with the same concerns or conservation ideologies as yourself. 

9.                 Give Your Home a "Green" Makeover 

Going green can certainly help conserve the environment. Giving your home a "green" makeover doesn't necessarily require that you install solar panels. There are several small and affordable changes you can consider to make your home more eco-friendly. For instance, you can swap regular light bulbs for LED bulbs, use a programmable thermostat to monitor your cooling and heating systems, wash your clothes in cold water, skip the dryer if possible, and switch to more environmentally-friendly curtains and blinds.

Further on, you can make your home more eco-friendly by implementing energy-conserving practices such as switching off the lights when leaving the room, using natural lights, lowering the temperature on your hot water, or using reusable batteries. All these efforts would ensure your home is more eco-friendly and would indeed help in conserving the environment. 

10.             Choose Eco-Friendly Products 

Eco-friendly products help conserve the environment by significantly reducing the pollution that their absence would alternately create. These products don't harm the environment in either their production, use, or disposal. Eco-friendly products are more durable, reusable, less toxic, less resource-intensive in their production, and are safer for the environment, people, and wildlife. 

By choosing eco-friendly products over environmentally detrimental products, you're not only conserving the environment but also the health and well-being of your loved ones and the community at large. Eco-friendly products offer several advantages, not only to the environment but sometimes with regards to your well-being and finances. For one, these products cost less and have lower maintenance expenses. They are also good for the environment while in use and for some even at their disposal as they are biodegradable. 

Using eco-friendly products also enables you to live a happier, healthier lifestyle. Most products in today's world contain harmful chemicals such as BPA and lead, which are known to cause many different diseases in both children and adults. For adults, these chemicals increase the risk of fatal conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, reproductive system abnormalities, and autoimmune diseases. BPA and lead can cause diabetes, premature puberty, and autoimmune disorders when exposed to children. Eco-friendly products are all-natural, meaning they are free from all dangerous chemicals established to cause fatal conditions. Therefore, using eco-friendly products enhances the quality of life for people of all ages  and their overall wellness

In summary, eco-friendly not only allows you to conserve the environment but also contributes to a healthier lifestyle. Besides, you'll be able to save more using an eco-friendly product. One eco-friendly product you can purchase this coming Earth Day is the FlexiSpot Kana Bamboo Standing Desk (Eco & Pro). 

The Kana Bamboo Standing Desk is 100% eco-friendly, constructed with renewable bamboo and eco-friendly lacquer coating that complies with the stringent E0 standards to offer you an earth-friendly option. The desk features the elegance of natural bamboo material. It's constructed via lateral compression technology to retain the beautiful, natural grain of every bamboo strip. It's a great choice if you are looking for an eco-friendly, elegant, and durable standing desk. Its full range of features include: 

• 100% nature materials

• Luxury texture

• Three-layer durable structure

• Three programmable presets 

• It comes with an energy-efficient display, which automatically enters sleep mode to reduce power usage when the desk is stationary. 

• Allow you to set up convenient activity alerts to remind you to sit or stand at regular intervals or turn the alerts off completely when necessary.

Conclusion 

Earth Day is a time to show appreciation to our dear planet by demonstrating environmental protection and conservation efforts. While you can show appreciation to the planet on Earth Day, conserve and protect the environment on a daily basis to achieve better results. Don't just leave it to Earth Day! Get out there and plant trees, join environmental movements and organizations, use eco-friendly products, exercise the 3 R's- Reuse, Recycle and Reduce and overall, lead an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. FlexiSpot is concerned with environmental conservation and offers a wide range of eco-friendly products. Make sure to try out some of FlexiSpot's products this coming Earth Day and contribute to environmental conservation.