Earth Day, Part One: The Idea

Earth Day is a thing I've only really heard of on American television, but since discovering 4ocean my Instagram is now full of their Earth Day bracelet campaign, among others which I will get to later. So having very little idea what Earth Day was about, I decided to do some digging.

The 4ocean bracelet made from one pound of recycled plastic pulled from the sea.

It started in 1970 and was founded by Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator at the time. It's largely considered to be the birth of the modern environmental movement. At the time pollution was synonymous with success and prosperity, there was little conern for the long term effects on the environment. A book entitled Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, released a few years prior, was what opened Nelson's eyes to the issue.

April 22nd, 1970, saw the first Earth Day. It was initially to educate and promote the idea of being sustainable and environmentally friendly. Over the years it gained traction and it became global in 1990. Its modern focus has been on clean energy and, in more recent years, the scourge of the ocean - plastic.

Of course, this is all a nutshell gathered from earthday.org which I highly recommend checking out. There is a PDF you can download which serves as a guide for using less plastic. I shall be perusing it as part of the research for my Earth Day.

Yes, I want to do something for Earth Day this year. I have April 22nd off this year, it is a Sunday if you are interested. The notion came to me while I was browsing Instagram last weekend. Cape Clasp are doing a campaign called #MakeWaves which encourages people to take a jar down to the beach on Earth Day and fill it was plastic and litter. Send a picture to them with the #MakeWaves hashtag and you get a free clasp. They make jewellery and all proceeds go to charities for marine conservation.

This inspired me. This was something I wanted to do. But why stop at a jar? Yes, it makes a pretty Instagram picture and the clasps are super cute. (I like the Great White one, particularly.) Why not take a bin bag and a few friends? I already have one set of helping hands on board.

Of course, this raises the issue of do I need to notify the local powers that be? Do I officially act through the Earth Day organisation? Just which beach do I pick?!

The Youth Hostel Association have got a whole series of Earth Day events which are, ufortunately for me, based in the north. I'm sure with a little more digging I coud find a whole hoard of events I could potentially sign up to. So what do I do? And how do I do it?

I have always been interested in being environmentally friendly. I recycle, I bike to work, and I try not to waste electricity. But actively campaigning and taking action are new to me, and I'm not all too sure where to begin. I am very good at ideas, not so much on the following through. So any advice would gratefully accepted. But if you want to change the world, you have to change your bad habits first.

That is why doing something this Earth Day is so important to me. I don't want to just talk the talk, I want to walk the walk. It's now just a matter of whether I keep it simple or if I go all out. Watch this space for Part Two, where I will have a more concrete idea of what I want and what I need to do.

'Til next time!

Boulder's Bay, Simon's Town; South Africa