The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. Fast forward 41 years and the celebration continues on Friday, April 22, 2011–just a few days away. Nickelodeon, The Motherhood and The Natural Wildlife Federation have launched a pretty cool initiative this year: Be Kind 2 Earth Day.
Hopefully all of us can be a part of this national project- all you have to do is “like” B Kind 2 Earth Day on Facebook and by doing so you are pledging to do one nice thing for the Earth on April 22nd. No worries if you don’t have a Facebook account-you can still do something good for mother earth.
The possibilities are infinite: go for a bike ride, pick up garbage on the sidewalk, plant a garden, get a group of friends together and clean up a playground or park, take a walk, make a bird feeder.
This year I am pledging to keep my reusable bags in the front seat of my car so I actually remember them. I am also going to refuse plastic straws at restaurants as part of an initiative by Beth Terry over at My Plastic Free Life to get restaurants to stop automatically handing out plastic straws.
B Kind 2 Earth Day is keeping track of where all this kindness is happening-just add in your state and it will be included in the tally. I am a state leader for Massachusetts, helping to spread the word about this wonderful project.
So this Friday, and every day, try to get outside and appreciate our planet. Just think-if everyone showed one act of kindness towards the earth the impact would be huge. Let’s take it one step beyond Earth Day and keep it going year round so our planet will be here for generations to come.
How are you celebrating Earth Day this year?
[Photo used under Creative Commons from Woodleywonderworks/Flickr]