Little Ways You Can Make Every Day Earth Day!

April 22, 2016

At Blix, we care deeply about the environment and think that there should be efforts made everyday to improve our current ecological state. However, Earth Day is the perfect time of year to sing praises to our beautiful and resilient home and freshen up on the reasons why we should be treating the Earth better and better. Below are a few refreshing ways you can engineer a life that is both simple and environmentally friendly so that every day can become Earth Day!

1. Bike to Work Even if you are just replacing part of your journey to work with bike commuting, you are still leaving aMUCH smaller carbon footprint behind you. Transportation accounts for upwards of 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions. The average car commuter produces 1.2 pounds of CO2 per mile (adding up to 12k lbs of CO2 a year), whereas the typical bike commuter will emit 0.7 grams of CO2 just from their breath. This means that using a bike for commuting can cut your household carbon footprint by 6% AND skip the traffic. Not to mention, the manymental andphysical benefits you are giving yourself by making this transition. Swapping out the car for an ebike is a fun and easy way to make a serious change to your carbon footprint.

2. VolunteerEvery year on earth day there arehundreds of opportunities to participate in an organized clean ups around the community. Whether you are helping to clean up a certain part of a river, picking up litter on the beach, or helping tend to a popular hiking trail, volunteering is a wonderful way to connect with your community, give back to the earth and spend some time outdoors.

3. Eat Vegetarian one day a week Livestock accounts forone-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. While our the human narrative for a long time has been that animal protein is irreplaceable in the human diet, it is time to for us to step into the understanding that not only is this a false idea, but thepractices that our global society uses to produce livestock are harmful to our planet’s environment and need to change. While eliminating meat entirely from your diet can be a littlepsychologically challenging, you can still make a (small) difference with eliminating meat just one day a week! Start small, perhaps you sub avocado for bacon on your salads or sandwiches, or opt for abeet burger instead of a hamburger!

4. Spend more time outside!We know some people hardly need an excuse to get outside and smell the fresh air. But for those of us who might need a little nudge, there has been some compelling studies to seeing how our brain functions better when we are surrounded by vegetation. Spending time in nature has a positive effect on your ability tofocus, yourcreativity, and helps reduce stress anddepression. Yet another reason to trade in your car for a bike on your morning commute!