35 easy, practical ways to celebrate Earth Day and embrace sustainable living

You are already honoring the Earth just by living the resale life. But there are many more things you can do to walk a little more lightly on the Earth. Don’t try to do everything. Try one or two shifts in your routine, and see how it goes. Then try one or two more. 

Earth Day Challenge #1: The Sustainable Closet

1. Mend your clothes. It’s easier than you think to stitch a fallen hem, repair a ripped seam, or close a tiny hole. A small sewing kit will serve you for years and years.  If DIY isn’t your thing, hire a tailor. It’s worth it to mend clothes you love! 

2. Repurpose or upcycle the clothes you have. They’re so many great ideas out there. A men’s button-down becomes an apron, old jeans become a tote, sweaters with too many holes to mend become a patchwork scarf. If you’re not crafty, offer clothing with repurposing potential to a crafter on Buy Nothing or Marketplace. 

3. Organize or participate in a clothing swap. All you need are some clothing racks and long tables. People bring their items the week leading up to the event. Spend Friday night hanging and organizing everything by size. Invite some friends to help. Invite everyone over on Saturday. Donate everything that didn’t get claimed to a local thrift store. You can also have a toy swap, a home goods swap, a kitchen items swap, anything people have in abundance. 

4. Try a new thrift store, resale boutique, or vintage store. Find a friend and go on a thrift store crawl, hitting stores you haven’t tried before. 

Earth Day Challenge #2: The Sustainable Kitchen

5. Plant something. Herbs are a great place to start for growing food. Consult your local nursery about plants that grow well in your climate. Maybe you could grow blueberries, peppers, tomatoes, or sweet potatoes.

6. Compost. There are many ways to compost, starting with a composting service that may already be operating in your area. You can also set up a small compost operation that starts in your kitchen and ends in your yard, nourishing your own plants.

7. Check out farmer’s markets, food co-ops, and other sources of food grown close to home. Consider a CSA, a subscription to a local farm, giving you access to freshly harvested produce. 

8. Eat whole. See how much of your diet you can fill with whole foods over packaged, processed foods. Packaged snacks are so convenient, it can be hard to let them go. Make oatmeal cookies, just following the recipe on the box. Keep the dough frozen in balls and only bake one or two at a time. 

9. Reduce food waste. Meal planning helps so much. Buy the ingredients you need to make everything you need  for the week. Then make time to cook so you don’t end up with a fridge full of rotten produce. 

10. Learn to store produce properly so it lasts as long as possible. Cilantro lasts a long time when stored in, of all things, a plastic bag. We hate plastic around here, but we love a long-lasting cilantro.

11. Use dishcloths instead of paper towels. Start by minimizing paper towels, and before long you will realize you don’t need them. 

12. Use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. Thrift stores are a great source of cloth napkins. No one said they have to match. With a large stack, you’ll never need paper napkins again. 

13. Use a reusable water bottle to avoid disposable. The secondhand market is awash in water bottles. 

Earth Day Challenge #3: The Sustainable Household 

14. Gift everything you don’t want. Gift your unwanted home goods, toys, clothing and other items through your local Buy Nothing group or Marketplace. Most of us are awash in stuff, and not knowing what to do with unwanted items can keep us from taking action. Try listing a few things for free and see what kind of response you get. 

15. Have a yard sale or a free sale. A traditional yard sale is still a great way to get your unwanted stuff to people who want it. Multifamily sales are wonderful, and you can work with your neighborhood on a community-wide yard sale. Consider a free sale to get all your stuff claimed within a couple of hours. 

16. Before buying anything new, see if you can find it used through Buy Nothing, Marketplace or other channels. You can work the yard sale - Buy Nothing - Marketplace strategy both ways, using these streams to acquire things you need, as well as getting rid of things you don’t need.

17. Cut up old t-shirts and use them as cleaning rags. For light cleaning, use a cleaning solution of vinegar, lemon rinds, and whatever herbs you have on hand. (Do not use vinegar on granite countertops.) 

18. Recycle the hard-to-recycle items, like small appliances, batteries, and bread bags. Research opportunities in your area. For example, a large office supply store takes back used printer cartridges. 

19. Buy your craft supplies secondhand. Atlanta has a secondhand store just for craft supplies called Scraplanta. Many large thrift stores have a bounty of supplies.

20. Try indoor gardening. Spider plants make great starter plants. You can ask a friend with houseplants for a cutting to start a new plant. 

Earth Day Challenge #4: The Sustainable Gifter 

21. Give gifts curated from second hand stores. Thrift a basket or platter and then fill it with carefully curated gently used items, homemade gifts, and regifts to create a beautiful gift you will be proud to give.

22. Save and reuse gift bags, tissue, and wrapping paper. You can make wrapping paper from brown bags, mailers, newspaper, and all manner of stuff. Fabric gift bags can be reused again and again.

23. Embrace regifting or no-gifting. There is nothing tacky about regifting a gift you received but don’t need or want. You can also talk to friends and family members about forgoing gifts in favor of a meal, an evening out, or a hike.

24. Shop local for gifts and gifty items for yourself. So many wonderful artisans sell their creations locally. To a small business, every sale is meaningful.

25. Consider a pan of lasagna or a night of babysitting as gifts. Think about what people really want and need. 

Earth Day Challenge #5: The Sustainable Community

26. Help an overwhelmed friend or family member donate their unwanted clothing and household items to the appropriate thrift stores and nonprofits. Clutter weighs on your mental health, but many people feel frozen, unable to donate clothes they don’t wear. Offer to help, and maybe they will take you up on it.

27. Volunteer to organize the clothing received by a nonprofit. Some nonprofits, such as women’s shelters, receive donated clothing but don’t have anyone to sort and organize the clothes, leaving them to languish in garbage bags. Sorting and organizing is relaxing, meditative, and satisfying!

28. Start a children’s clothing bank. Children outgrow clothing so fast, and communities need organized processes for getting gently worn clothing to children in the right size and season. A grandmother in Atlanta started a clothing bank for newborn to 5T, and she is able to pack paper sacks of clothing in just the right sizes for special deliveries to families in need. 

29. Set up a bartering network among neighbors. What do you have to share? What do your neighbors have to share? Think childcare, homemade bread, mending services, lawn-care, garden bounty, resume editing, and on and on. 

30. Share your books. Gather up books you already read or know you’re never going to read and drop them in Little Free Libraries.

31. Meet friends at places you can walk to. See if you can go all day without using your car. Can you go all week without using your car? 

32. Visit local, state, and national parks. Many have yurts, cabins, and other well-maintained facilities for overnight stays as well as tours led by qualified guides. 

33. Visit your local library and take advantage of all its resources. You may be surprised at their offerings, including free events, access to subscription-based databases, a seed library, and on and on. 

34. Build community whenever and wherever you can. Hold a potluck, game night, book swap, DVD swap, or anything that will bring people out.

35. Spend more time with friends and family. Expand your circle. Get in touch. Ask how people are doing and what they need. Let the people closest to you know what you need. A sustainable soul will help you weather hard times.