Environmentlists and Earth Day? Not so perfect together anymore.

In what I think is mostly a reaction to companies trying to hijack Earth Day to tout their “greenness,” many environmentalists are having an adverse reaction to Earth Day.

Ding. Right after typing that sentence my computer let me know I had a new e-mail. It was from our friend Adam of Twilight Earth alerting me to his latest post. Amazing timing.

Here’s what Adam has to say at the beginning of his post today, Earth Day - Celebration, Gimmick or Eco Guilt Forgiveness Day?

Twilight Earth isn’t about gimmicks, dog and pony shows or green-washing. It’s for this reason that we almost decided to boycott Earth Day, by not writing an article about it.

Believe me, we’ve had a lot of time to think about it. Leading up to today, we’ve received over 300 Earth Day related E-mails, press releases and requests to write articles. The sheer volume of Earth Day related hoopla is what gave us pause.

I’m afraid that the reason I don’t really care for Earth Day is that it has become another gimmick. Another way for corporate sponsors to peddle their wares and another way to make up for our environmental sins. It has also become a day where politicians can grab some green spotlight and pass environmentally friendly legislation.

Believe me, Adam, I get it. I've gotten those same 300 Earth Day related e-mails, perhaps more. Some of them have been downright insulting like the one that asked me to write about the first flavored bottled water to receive USDA organic status. Organic bottled water!!!!

Adam is by far, not the only one jaded this year by what in the past has been the environmental movements big day. Grist has a "Screw Earth Day" campaign. Even my colleague Shae Gunther over on MNN wrote a tongue in cheek piece making fun of the one day a year efforts.

The fact of the matter is that for those of us who are involved in earth matters day in and day out, it is disheartening to see Earth Day becoming a corporate media day of hoopla. But for those who aren't involved day in and day out, I think it's still an important day. Here's why.

1. Education happens in schools. Teachers rally around this day, around this week, using it to get in a few extra environmental lessons. When I ran the book fair last month at the school, the teachers were snatching up the few books on Global Warming and recycling for kids that were offered saying they were going to use them on Earth Day. Teachers aren't telling kids about organic bottled water or the fact that Macy's will give you 10% off all your purchases if you donate to an earthy cause. They are teaching the kids how to care for the earth today.
2. Communities come together. Last Sunday, lots of families in my town that aren't involved day in and day out with earth matters came together to do clean up around the town. My Facebook account has pictures from my friends from town cleaning up parks and ballfields. Will this ultimately help the earth. Not really, but it will get people thinking about things.
3. Seeds are planted - literally and figuratively. Yesterday, I spoke to a moms group on "thinking about food." I gave a small lecture on how our food choices effect the environment and then gave them a list of things to choose from that could make a difference. I had a lot of moms come up to me after and tell me that they had never thought about the information I gave them before but they were going to choose one thing from my list. I have no doubt that a few of those moms will learn more about this on their own. After my talk, the group planted herb seeds in recycled containers as a way to easily grow some of their own food. I know I'm not the only person speaking to groups across the country this week about environmental things and while not every person who hears talks this week will be changed, many will.

For those of us who live by the mantra "every day is Earth Day" maybe today isn't going to be any different from any other day. To be honest, my family didn't take part in our community Earth Day activities on Sunday. We weren't boycotting them; we just chose to do something else that day. And today, well I'm writing about earth matters - but I do that every day.

Swaptree.com will plant one tree for each swap on Earth Day

As I mentioned on my guest post on Twilight Earth on Friday, I'm not particularly keen on buying things to celebrate Earth Day, but swapping things on Earth Day - well that's downright earth friendly. And if that swap comes along with the planting of tree, that's even better.

Swaptree.com, the site that allows users to swap books, dvd's, cd's and video games for free is working with The Nature Conservancy’s ‘Plant a Billion Trees’ program and will be planting a tree for every trade completed on Swaptree on Earth Day.

While currently several thousand trades happen every day on Swaptree, their goal on Earth Day is to do 10,000 trades and therefore plant 10,000 trees. While the average Swaptree user, given its emphasis on recycling and sharing, lowers their yearly carbon footprint by 180 pounds and saves trees from being turned into new books, with this initiative they hope to offset literally several thousand tons of CO2.

If you've been meaning to check out Swaptree but haven't done it yet, Wednesday is the day to do it. I've written about this earth friendly site several times before, but you know what, I have yet to complete a trade. I signed up for an account and someone tried to trade with me last summer when I was on vacation, but by the time I got home the trade had expired or been recinded or something. I think maybe I'll see what I can trade tomorrow on Earth Day.

Earth Day is on April 22 but why wait till then

Recycle Bank and Burts Bees sent me a list of 10 Earth Day tips to use on this site. They're great tips, but as I was reading them over I realized (even before I got to their ending comment) - these are all things you can do any day, not just on Earth Day. 

As Earth Day approaches, I'll be talking more about what you can do in your own community to celebrate, but I thought this list was worth putting up because they are things we should be doing whether it's Earth Day or not. Here's what Recycle Bank and Burts Bees have to say.

In 1970, the first Earth Day motivated and energized people to take action and think differently about life on the planet. Now, with almost 39 Earth Day Celebrations under our belt, it’s time to up the ante and think about good ol’ Mother Earth each and every day.

RecycleBank and Burt’s Bees have come up with 10 easy ways that you can do to make a difference today, tomorrow, and every day.

1. Recycle: This Earth Day, take a good hard look at your trash. We trust you’ll fish out some recyclables in the mix (probably from others), but also remember E-Waste like cell phones, MP3’s and laptops can all be recycled and repurposed.
   
2. Freecycle: The above is sure to stir up some goodies that can be useful to those around us: clothes, books, electronics, furniture, etc.
   
3. Reuse. Reuse. And did we mention Reuse? Products have life spans. Leave behind paper plates, plastic forks and any other disposables. Reusable serve ware, portable mugs for that latte and a water jug for that necessary potable will lessen landfills and just make life taste better!
   
4. Wallet Activism: Look for products made from recycled materials, natural ingredients and minimal / biodegradable packaging. By supporting eco-friendly companies your green supports the greater green.
   
5. Park It: Celebrate the beauty of spring with a walk when you could have driven. Carpool, take public transport, ride your bike. If you can’t do it every day, try once a week. When you do drive, make sure you pump up your tires so you can deflate your fill-ups.
   
6. Junk It: Putting the kibosh on junk mail and catalogues will save you time, save landfill space and save millions of trees (and probably make the post office happy too).
   
7. Bills. Bills. Bills. We won’t advise not paying ‘em, but we wholly support going paperless for your banking, bill paying and at the ATM.
   
8. Live Life Locally: Support your local farmers while enjoying fresh produce and organically grown goodies. You can even try going veggie once or twice a week.
   
9. Say Y-E-S to CFL’s: You’ll save time, money and energy…but you may have to give up on the “How many _____’s does it take to change a light bulb?” jokes because you’ll change them so infrequently.
   
10. Spread the Word: Tell your friends how easy it is to shave off some carbon here, save some resources there and conserve a little energy here. And then they can tell their friends. And then they can tell their friends…
    

RecycleBank and Burt’s Bees are committed to finding clean, green ways of existing on this planet. These simple steps above can help you protect the environment, each and every day.

Image: Earthday.net