Happy Earth Month!
April is my favorite month of the year. The winter weather finally starts going away, flowers start blooming, the Masters is being played and it's Earth Month! Earth Month is an important time dedicated to celebrating and advocating for environmental awareness and sustainability. During Earth Month, communities come together worldwide to reflect on the significance of our planet and the urgent need to protect the earth's resources. Earth month provides individuals, organizations, and even governments a platform to raise awareness, and try to implement meaningful changes working towards a more sustainable planet.
Luna's Sustainable Store has been committed to sustainability since our inception, and we will continue to put sustainability above all else. Of course our products show our commitment to environmental sustainability, with all our product offerings being either recycled, recyclable, compostable, all natural, etc. But what about economic sustainability? Many other sustainable stores price and market their items towards a very specific target audience. We at Luna's Sustainable Store are addressing this pattern by making all of our products more affordable. This means that people who may have a lower income are still able to access the innovations in the world of sustainability. We are constantly striving towards breaking down the barrier, making sustainability more fun, normalized, and available for everyone! Not only does this directly serve consumers today, but it opens up the world of sustainability to generations to come who may not have been exposed otherwise. With this strategy, the next generations will not only take part in sustainable practices, but they may come up with the next big sustainable innovation! Lastly, social sustainability is being addressed by Luna's Sustainable Store being in business. We will never use products from a big box store. All of our products come to us as green as possible, and we only source from small businesses. Every time you make a purchase from us, like our post, share our post etc. you're helping push social, economic, and environmental sustainability to the forefront! What is the first R strategy? R0- REFUSE! We have to refuse to fund the bigger corporations who say they care about sustainability, but have no evidence to back their claims.
Importance of Earth Day and Origins
Did you know that Earth Day was started in 1970 by a democratic senator of Wisconsin named Gaylord Nelson? Nelson was inspired by anti-Vietnam War "teach-ins" that were taking place on majority of college campuses at that time. Nelson envisioned a large-scale grassroots environmental demonstration "to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda." It was at a conference in Seattle in the fall of 1969 when Nelson proposed this idea, and the entire country took off with it. It was at this point that the American people finally had a forum to speak up and express their concerns with the environment around them.
At this point, in comes Denis Hayes. Hayes was a young activist who had been student president at Stanford University. He was ultimately selected as Earth Day's national coordinator, and off he went.
The first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, rallies were held all over the country. Politicians, actors, singers, and everyday citizens lined the streets of Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and many other major cities. Needless to say, the first Earth Day was extremely effective at raising awareness about environmental issues. Senator Nelson described this earth Day as starting the "Environmental decade with a bang." In 1970, Americans saw the Clean Air Act, the Water Quality Improvement Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Toxic Substance Control Act, and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act passed.
Fast forward to April 2024, 54 years later. It almost seems as if nothing had changed since the first Earth Day. Sea levels are rising, ocean temperatures are increasing, we're experiencing longer, more intense droughts that threatens crops, wildlife, and fresh water supplies, Global warming, climate change, water pollution, and the loss of biodiversity. The list goes on.
The bad news is that scientists predict many of the issues we face today will continue to worsen if not addressed. The good news is all of these issues can be addressed from an individual level all the way up to a global level. Through both individual and collective efforts, we can begin to slow the rate at which these disasters occur, and worsen. Think about that the next time a piece of trash flies away when you're at the beach, or hiking through a trail. Think about that the next time you choose the plastic wrapped vegetables at the grocery store instead of the individual vegetables. Every small decision you make compounds over time.
How to Celebrate Earth Month
There are many different ways you can celebrate Earth Month. Some of these include; reducing waste, conserving energy, supporting local and small businesses, and growing your own food!
Some fun ways to reduce waste include; Replace single-use items with reusable alternatives, compost food scraps, repair and repurpose items, donate or sell unwanted items, and reduce paper use. Our favorites include saying no to single-use items, and composting food scraps! These are simple tasks that reduce our footprint greatly! We haven't used a single paper towel in over 6 months now, and the soil in our yard has been thanking us profusely for giving it the nutrients it wants through composting!
How can you conserve energy? There has been a major push towards energy conservation in recent years, and you can't go to any appliance store without seeing their energy usage. This is great, but you can do even more. Simply turning off the lights you aren't using, setting your thermostat to an energy efficient temperature, and upgrading your lights are super easy changes anyone can make in their home to help conserve energy. We recently upgraded to solar power in our home, and we're updating our windows to more energy efficient windows. Not only do these simple tasks conserve overall energy consumption, they will also lower your bills! That's a win for everyone!
Support local and small business! This is our favorite thing to do, and not just because we're a small business. First off, supporting your local businesses greatly reduces carbon footprint, and helps keep money circulating within the community. Many small businesses prioritize sustainability and eco-friendly practices, such as Luna's Sustainable Store. By supporting small businesses, you're encouraging and promoting sustainable initiatives. Say no to the big brand name stores, and get more engrained in your community!
Growing your own food is such a fun, and rewarding thing to do. Growing your own food comes with so many sustainable benefits including, reducing package waste, food security and self reliance, and you'll know for sure that you have chemical free food. You can also conserve water by growing your own food as compared to purchasing from a grocery store. You get to decide how to set up your water usage. Drip irrigation, mulching, and rainwater harvesting are just a couple ways to conserve water in your garden. Our favorite part of growing our own food is the sense of community that comes with it. Whenever we have a surplus of food, it never goes to waste. My neighbors get a taste, too!
Sustainable Product Spotlight
This Earth Month, celebrate and try to switch to a more sustainable daily routine. We have some products that make the change seamless.
Unpaper Towels are our top product. These replace single-use paper towels (and napkins) and they come in brilliant designs. These are reusable, and they can be used exactly as you'd use a napkin, or paper towel. They're durable, machine washable, and super absorbent. One of our pack of 12 unpaper towels will have you skipping over the paper towels on your grocery list week in and week out. Not only are these great for the environment, they look and feel amazing, and you'll save money by never having to buy paper towels again.
Bamboo toothbrushes help turn your dental routine into a sustainable one. It takes hundreds to thousands of years for a single plastic toothbrush to decompose. This means that every plastic toothbrush you have ever used in your entire life is still sitting in a landfill somewhere. Or, maybe they're in a marine environment breaking down into microplastics. In many cases, those plastic toothbrushes will never fully decompose. Bamboo toothbrushes fully decompose anywhere between 6 months to 2 years depending on the environment. Also, bamboo is a renewable resource that grows rapidly. Switching to a bamboo toothbrush now may seem like a small change, but if you continue to use them for decades, that turns into a huge positive impact. Plus, if you're into composting like us, you can throw those used bamboo toothbrushes right into the compost pile!
Wool dryer balls are our favorite swap. With these wool dryer balls, you will never have to purchase single-use dryer sheets again. These dryer balls are made of 100% wool, a renewable resource. You can use the dryer balls over and over again. We like to use a couple drops of essential oils in our dryer balls to give our clothes a fresh scent. The only thing better than switching from single-use, chemical ladened, potential fire hazard dryer sheets, is air drying your clothes. If air drying isn't an option for you, our wool dryer balls will not damage your indoor air quality, they will not damage your dryers performance, and they will not pile up in landfills like single-use dryer sheets do! This is the simplest alternative we offer.
In conclusion, we can't let the efforts of Senator Nelson, Denis Hayes, and the millions of people who participated in the first Earth Day way back in 1970 die off. We must continue to compound upon their efforts. Although today's challenges may slightly differ than those from 1970, our end goal is still the same. A greener tomorrow, and equal opportunity for all. We all have the power from an individual level to make a major difference, and no matter what role you'd like to play, there's a role for you!
An easy way to make a difference is to switch to a more sustainable daily routine. We invite you all to visit our store to explore our wide range of sustainable products, and get started! Luna's favorite swap packs are a great start for those who compost and those who don't. Keep an eye out on our store and follow our Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok pages for Earth Day discounts and promotions! Make sure to share our pages, store and blog to anyone who is looking to begin a more sustainable lifestyle!