This Earth Day, Do What You Can to Help Our Planet Not Die

97%+ of scientists agree that climate change is 1) real AF and 2) caused by humans. Despite the overwhelming improbability of that many people coming to a consensus on anything and occurrences of devastating natural disasters like land hurricanes, some people still insist that climate change isn’t real.

It’s understandable that oil tycoons want to discredit climate change. After all, human greed knows no bounds, and I suppose if we’ve learned nothing else in the past few years, it’s how many people are susceptible to ridiculous lies from billionaires.

I can’t think of anything more serious than the threat our planet is facing. Yes, it’s depressing that we have to be nostalgic for the days we all agreed that Nazis are bad, but everybody needs clean air, drinkable water and land they can live off of.

Are climate change deniers really willing to gamble the future of the planet based on what non-scientists, who have clear motive to lie, are telling them? Apparently so. After all, we live in a time of flat-earthers and anti-vaxxers; apparently desperately clinging to objectively wrong and harmful beliefs is en vogue.

Caring about climate change seems to be a young person’s issue—probably because we’re going to be stuck trying to make a life on this dying-ass planet the Baby Boomers* left us. (Like ruining the economy wasn’t enough.) Seeing these kiddos take action against climate change does give me hope, because let’s get real: Making major policy moves are the only hope we have of getting a handle on this issue. And while a Green New Deal may have some have some economic ramifications, which would you prefer—not having as much cash to burn or not having a planet to live on? I know which one I pick.

But until we get the Climate Change Denier-in-Chief and his cronies out of office, we might be stuck doing what little we as individuals can do. Is it enough to make a difference? Maybe not, but we owe it to Mother Natch to try. Here are my best tips.

1: Support green policies and politicians.

Duh, see above. A bit of good news: Saving our planet looks like it might be turning into a nonpartisan issue! Don’t expect to see Republicans backing the Green New Deal anytime soon, but acceptance is the first step in recovery.

2: Don’t litter.

I mean. Come on.

3: Get yourself some reusable bags.

While they may have given us the incredibly moving Katy Perry lyric Do you ever feel like a plastic bag / Drifting through the wind / Wanting to start again, plastic bags suck. Get some reusable ones and you can even cash in on some lil’ baby discounts at certain stores. Ideally you are not a trash human like me who forgets to bring the reusable bags 50% of the time, but even if you did leave your bags at home, you can go with paper if that’s an option and feel marginally better about yourself.

4: Stop drinking bottled water.

Bottled water is just so, so wasteful. Also, it’s stupidly expensive on a personal level! . Buy a reusable water bottle and take it with you everywhere. (My Klean Kanteen is dented to hell and back, but it keeps my water icy cold.) You may also get the added benefit of drinking more water, which is dope.

5: Lose the straw.

Have you heard about the sea turtles? I’m sure you’ve heard about the sea turtles. If you can’t bear to drink your ice latte from the cup itself, invest in some reusable straws.

6: Buy local food when you can.

Look, I get it—the act of purchasing groceries in and of itself is difficult enough. Getting all locally sourced food is just not always going to be an option, but it has serious environmental benefits and it helps support your local economy. Go to farmer’s markets and eat at restaurants with locally sourced food, check out local CSAs or start your own garden.

7: Up your recycling game.

The majority of us probably recycle at least sometimes—like the average five Amazon boxes most of us receive a week. (Or is that just my house?) Those are pretty easy to break down and toss in the bin. The peanut butter jar, however, is more troublesome, because you have to wash that shit out, and peanut butter is one of the top five worst things to clean out of anything. But take one for Team Earth next time and do it anyway.

8: Cut down on one-use products.

Advance to the next level of eco-friendliness by reusing enough that you don’t need to recycle. This is admittedly very hard for me, because lazy. I have not yet found the strength within me to forego paper towels entirely in favor of dish cloths. Someday! I did manage to ditch my makeup removing cotton pads because I learned that these washable bamboo pads that meant to soak up leaking tit milk (or something—breastfeeding freaks me out so I’m fuzzy on the details) work just as well.

9: Try Meatless Mondays.

Meat and dairy industries are huge contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. Just going meatless once a week helps. Part of the reason I went vegan—in addition to being really :( about how the industrial agriculture industry treats animals—was doing Mother Natch a solid.

10: Ditch fast fashion.

Who among us doesn’t love clothes shopping at Target? It is truly one of the best experiences life has to offer, but unfortunately, those cute, cheap clothes can come at a price—namely, unsustainable production practices and exploited workers. Target is improving, but brands like H&M aren’t doing so hot. In 2018, I quit ‘em cold turkey. Now my clothes come from retailers like Everlane and Teeki or thrift stores. Like my bottled water embargo, this has saved me a lot of money, because overall I’m buying far fewer clothing items.

I’m not living the greenest possible life. I already told you about the paper towels; plus, living in the Midwest, I take no public transit, and I usually travel by plane a couple times a year. There’s a lot of room for improvement—and most of that is within industry, not individuals. But until we get some MFing regulation up in here (or until the planet gasps its dying breaths, whichever comes first), let’s keep doing our best.

What are you doing to have Mother Natch’s back? Drop those fire tips for the lazy among us in the comments.

*#NotAllBoomers. Seriously, this issue will affect a lot of demographics.