Dr.Sue Maxam’s Earth day Everyday #EverydayActivismChallenge

Sue Maxam’s Everyday Activism Blog

Week One of “Earth Day Every Day”

Dr. Sue Maxam is pledging to make “Earth Day Every Day!” She will be completing 5-10 actions a day that promote sustainability and logging them in a journal that we will be sharing. Her hope is that by sharing her actions other people will feel encouraged to take action. The most simple actions can cause the most impact!

With global climate change worsening, I feel it is every individual’s duty to adapt our lifestyles so that we can abide by the definition of sustainability, which is to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” With this in mind, I plan to engage in at least 5-10 activities each day that promote sustainability. I will log what I do and summarize a few each week in a short blog. And since my mission in life is to “be the change I want to see in the world,” my hope is that by sharing with others, there will be a ripple effect and other people will consider engaging in some of the same simple but impactful activities!

Here are two (of MANY!) activities I engaged in this week:

  • Went to the catalogchoice.org website and took my name off 10 lists of direct marketers that had somehow found my name and began sending me unsolicited junk mail. Catalog Choice is a nonprofit organization for people who wish to opt-out of catalogs and other kinds of paper junk mail. It’s free, and collectively, people who have opted out over the past 8 years since its founding have literally saved millions of trees! Each year, over 100 million trees are cut down exclusively for junk mail!!! That’s incredibly detrimental to the environment! For more info on how to stop this junk mail mania, go to: Catalog Choice

 

  • Started a new compost pile! Why? Consider the fact that organic wastes, such as food waste and yard waste, make up 25 to 50% of what people throw away! While we cannot compost all of the organic waste we generate, composting can significantly cut down on our overall trash. When we throw away yard and food waste, it decomposes in a landfill and releases methane gas, a potent greenhouse gas. In addition to reducing landfill waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, composting creates nutrient-rich soil (great for gardening!), positively impacts air quality, helps avert garden pests, increases biodiversity, reduced erosion, and is cost effective (esp. for people like me who have to pay a private carter to take away our garbage each week).

This coming week I will focus on eco-friendly food! Stay tuned!

 

 

 


Want to take part in this challenge? Click here, Everyday Activism 2019, to learn more and sign up for the #EverdayActivismChallenge!