Earth Day Made Easy
10 simple things you can do to help fix the climate crisis that aren't all lifestyle changes.
It’s The Environmental Urbanist’s long-awaited return to Substack.
Apologies for the lengthy silence, it’s been a busy, busy few months, and all of my spare energy has gone into the radio show (which I will share at the end).
However, it pained me to let Earth Day go by without any comments at all, so get ready for list of quick, easy things you can do to make a positive difference for our climate, and improve the environment in our cities.
In no particular order:
1. Plant a native flower of some kind. Not the native seed packs that are often giveaways, those are usually full of invasives. Find a friend who has some in their garden, ask them for some seeds, and sow them wherever you can. Don’t have a garden? Make a seed bomb and use it to bless an unsightly empty lot.
2. Commit to fully stopping at stop signs when you drive. One of the main reasons people avoid active transportation like walking, especially walking their kids to school, is fear of getting hit by a vehicle at a crosswalk. Commit to coming to a full stop at all crosswalks until pedestrians have cleared the intersection (which is actually the law in Ontario).
3. Email or call your city councillor and ask for an update on your city’s climate change strategy, and ask them what is taking so long? If they don’t know you care about it, then I promise you they won’t care about it.
4. Pick up some litter as you’re walking. Going for a quick walk? Grab some litter and drop it into the nearest bin as you go. Litter clean ups don’t need to be big, organized events, they can happen every day.
5. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about an environmental solution you feel strongly about. You would be surprised how many people regularly read the newspaper, and because their audiences tend to skew older and more conservative, it reminds those folks that the solutions to our climate crisis are all around us and worth doing.
6. Donate to an environmental agency. A recent study in the US shared by David Roberts on his excellent podcast showed that more than buying an electric vehicle, riding your bike, or going vegan, the biggest impact you could make on the climate is to make the biggest donation you can each year to an evidence based environmental organization. They’re the ones forcing the government to make the sweeping changes that are unpopular with the billionaires who are accustomed to helping write our environmental laws.
7. Attend a protest. If you live in Ontario, I can pretty much guarantee there is a protest against urban sprawl, gravel mining or an unnecessary highway coming up in the next month or so. Show up and raise your voice. Politicians only ignore us as long as they think our numbers are small.
8. Wait another year or longer before replacing your TV, smartphone or laptop. Electronics use a huge amount of rare earth minerals, and the planet is running low on them. That means we’re now mining increasingly ecologically sensitive areas to find more. Holding off on replacing electronics helps discourage corporations from mining more of these elements.
9. Rinse out your cans and bottles before putting them in the recycling. Many people don’t realize that if you don’t clean those items out, they get sorted into the trash at the sorting centre. And if too many soiled items slip through, the whole batch can be rejected by the company buying the recycled items. Cleaning them only takes a second (except peanut butter jars. They’re a pain. Do them anyway).
10. Write your MP and demand they do something to make life better for a Native reservation somewhere in Canada. Every senior environmentalist I have interviewed on my show describes their journey from western science to the acknowledgement that indigenous wisdom holds the keys to all of us living sustainably with and understanding our environment. Demand the government do something to improve life on a reserve, so we can help first nations preserve their way of life and perspective. Again, if your MP doesn’t think you care, then they will not care either.
What to do next? Pick three of these ideas and put them in your calendar or planner for the coming week, knowing that you’ll be celebrating Earth Day with some tangible action.
Radio Update
A quick update on some of my favourite radio shows of the past year. There have been some exciting guests since we last spoke.
While I don’t often do what many would call hard news on my show, my episode about the poorly decommissioned (read: abandoned) GM plant in St Catherines was one of the most listened to episodes ever. It prompted a vigorous discussion online, and even an angry phone call from a St Catharines city councillor. Listen here to hear what all the controversy was about. You can hear part 2 here.
If you’ve never heard of Diana Beresford-Kroeger, I’m about to make your day much better. She is a celebrated ecologist and ethnobotanist who hails from Ireland where she was raised in a community still full of traditional wisdom before moving to Canada and immersing herself in the world of native trees. Her ideas are sometimes controversial, but her wisdom, intelligence, and passion for saving our planet can’t be overstated. Our conversation was long enough that it was two episodes. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.
Finally, on a lighter note, in the most downloaded episode I’ve ever had, I spoke with Mike Digout, the creator of the massively popular Facebook Page, Mike’s Photos and Videos of Beavers, about the family of our national rodent that he’s been documenting in their home in Saskatoon since the beginning of the pandemic. A conversation not to be missed.
Thanks for your kind attention. Look forward to other Substack pieces from me in the near future, and if you have enjoyed this, please pass it along to someone you think might enjoy it also.
Jason
If you enjoyed this article, you can get more Environmental Urbanisty goodness by subscribing here.
You can also check out the podcast page for the radio show here, or on your usual podcast downloading platform.
Finally, I have a regular online column in Hamilton City Magazine. Head here and search for my articles.
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