Celebrating Our Beautiful Earth

What are you looking forward to this April?

Every Day is Earth Day!

April is earth month. Do one thing each day to make the world a cleaner kinder place. Sign up here to do an Earth Month Challenge: Earth Month Ecochallenge 2023: Sustainable Development Goals – Home Page

Here are some other ideas:

My Earth month suggestions and the things I do most days are to purchase less junk, reduce my plastic use, pick up litter, and work hard to end food waste.

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint – A Year of Living Better Guides – The New York Times (nytimes.com) Drive less, reduce meat consumption, don’t waste food, and be a wise consumer.

Five things we learned from the new climate report Five things we’ve learned from UN climate report – BBC News

This Is the Make-or-Break Decade for Climate Action, IPCC Warns

New IPCC Report Shows the ‘Climate Time Bomb Is Ticking,’ Says UN Secretary General António Guterres

This month calendar has lots of ideas to be healthy and active. Add picking up litter and being kind to your daily activities.

Letter to the Startribune editorial page: While it is exciting that spring is coming, now is the also the time we see all the trash that has been snow-covered during our long winter. In this state of 10,000 lakes and many beautiful rivers, too much of this trash will end up polluting our waters if not cleaned up. I urge all reading this to do your part, and encourage others, too, to pick up as much trash as you are willing and able. If you are a homeowner, perhaps you can start with the trash in the street in front of your house. Perhaps carry a bag while walking and pick some up while exercising. Anything is a start and appreciated. Dave Councilman, St. Louis Park

What are you looking forward to this April? Enjoy, and make it worthwhile!

Positive January

The Actions for Happiness group has many good ideas to add positive energy to your days for this January.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/staying-hopeful-in-a-cynical-time#details

Buy Nothing!

World Kindness Day!

November 13, is World Kindness Day

Kindness creates a ripple of more kindness. Spread it now!

https://www.goodgoodgood.co/articles/how-to-celebrate-world-kindness-day

Random Acts of Kindness

Do a random act of kindness.

Pledge to yourself that you will do at least one random act of kindness each day. While these actions might seem small, that doesn’t make them any less important.

You’d be surprised how picking up litter, leaving a review for a favorite local business, or writing a thank you note to a teacher can make a positive impact on yourself and your community.

We’ve even compiled a list of over 100 ideas to practice random acts of kindness — check it out!

Ideas for kindness and happiness from Actions for Happiness:

Clean a Storm Drain

June is Clean a Storm Drain month. It is also World Oceans Month. Keeping storm drains clean keeps trash and pollutants from entering our oceans and waterways that drain into the oceans.

If everyone does a little it adds up to a lot! Collective action matters.

Storm drains feed directly into our local lakes and rivers, unfiltered, so it’s important to keep them clear for cleaner and healthier waterways. June is an important time to keep the seeds, grass and sticks that are collecting on our streets and sidewalks out of our storm drains. While they might be “natural” debris they become pollution when large quantities hit the water, break down, and become food for algae.

Sweep Up and Clean Up. Be part of a community effort for clean water! Thank you.

Adopt a storm drain at https://adopt-a-drain.org/

World Oceans Day 2022: 5 Things You Can Do to Save the Ocean

Make May Meaningful

Working together, if everyone does a small part it can add up to a big whole.

May is an exciting month. The days are getting longer, and after a cold spring the changes in nature will be enormous and fast. I hope you can get outside every day and enjoy the beauty of the plants, birds, and butterflies of our planet.

Early blooming native plants. Enjoy!

If you breathe, you should care about clean air. The wild fires have begun, and people are driving their cars, using lawn mowers, blowers and spreading chemicals. All these things contribute to dirty air.

How can we make May meaningful? You can choose to do some of these things to help create clean air for all of us.

-Never idle your car engine. Turn off your car when waiting or using your phone. Idle Threat: Turn Off Your Engine If You’re Waiting 10+ Seconds – Emagazine.com

-Participate in No Mow May No Mow May: 8 Reasons to Let Your Lawn Grow This Month – Bob VIla

-Plant natives and don’t use chemicals on your lawn. The Power of Trees – Health4earth

-Reduce your plastic footprint. The production of plastic pollutes our air, and plastic sheds chemical into our bodies and air. The burning of plastic in garbage burners creates more pollution! What is Microfibers Pollution and Why is It Bad? – Ocean Clean Wash

-May Ukraine find peace. Take three breaths for peace in Ukraine.

-Find meaningful activities at the Actions for Happiness calendar:

Peace for Ukraine

World Kindness 2021

World Kindness Day is a global day that promotes the importance of being kind to each other, to yourself, and to the world. The purpose of this day, celebrated on November 13 of each year, is to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together. This understanding has the power to bridge the gap between nations.

Make a special effort to be kind.

We all want to live in kind healthy communities. We want to live where we are respected and can thrive. Each of us can work for kinder environments by limiting the noise we create, picking up litter and after our dogs, sweeping our sidewalks, and listening and smiling more. How hard is that? We can create environments that are pleasant places to live. Kindness doesn’t cost any money! Kindness creates a ripple, it radiates out, and together we create happier and healthier places to live.

World Cleanup Day

World Cleanup Day addresses the issue of waste and litter across the globe. On September 18, the international day of service gets communities involved to keep their own neighborhoods clean and sustainable.

We are all in this together. Let’s keep her clean!

So much of litter is plastic waste that easily flows into our rivers and streams, and then all the way to the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.

Plastic litter is harmful to wildlife!

This is an productive day to get out and pick up trash. Wear gloves, bring a bag and get outside to pick up the trash in your neighborhood or choose an area you know needs to be picked up.

Good luck, be safe, watch for traffic, and enjoy your outside time! Thank You!

World Cleanup Day 2021

Look For The Good!

Thank you, and be Safe!

Thank you for those who work for healthy communities.

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone, and more challenges lie ahead as we confront more sickness and deaths from Covid-19. As a community we need to work everyday to take care of those around us. We are all in this together, and as individuals, families and communities it is necessary and important to follow the rules so everyone is safe. Our freedoms are not being infringed upon as we work together as a community for one big effort. Cooperation make us one. I am surprised on my walks to see groups or children wearing masks as they run around and play outdoor games together. Do they want to wear masks as they play outside? I am sure they are thankful to have each other, and be outside with their friends.

thank you — Live each day with gratitude and look for the good.

I wake up each day with gratitude for a new day, my family, friends, the sunshine, and the beauty of the Earth. I am thankful for the healthcare workers, mail carriers, and people who work with positive energy for peace and justice. Look for the good, it is there! I know I am lucky, and I hope you are lucky too!

I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness–It’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” Brene Brown

Yes, we are tired of stay safe rules , but I thought this was a very comprehensive list, and I hope you might get some new ideas. I copied it from an article in Ecowatch.com Please be safe and look for the good.

Always mask up when indoors and around people who don’t live in your household.
Always mask up when outdoors and unable to maintain physical distancing.
Use either disposable masks or a multi-layer tightly woven cotton mask. Single-layer kerchiefs are insufficient.
When you mask up, make sure it fits your face and covers both nose and mouth. Wash or sanitize your hands after touching or removing the mask.
Remember that masks are not a substitute for physical distancing.
Maintain at least six feet of distance between you and others outside of your household.
Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for 20 seconds, or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
Avoid motions that transfer organisms from your hands to your face. Your mouth, nose and eyes have mucous membranes that are potentially receptive to these organisms.
Clean frequently touched surfaces. Wipe-ups are wasteful, use bleach, water with rags instead.
Do as much as possible outside and keep interactions with others short.
Fortify ventilation systems for more frequent air exchanges. Air should be coming from the outside!
Curtail in-person holiday celebrations with those not in your household

Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Justice for All

In Memory of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice

“Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that others will join you.” RBG

“If you want to be a true professional you will do something outside yourself. Something to repairs tears in our community. Something to make life a little better for people less fortunate than you, that’s what I think is a meaningful life is. Living not for yourself, but for ones community.” RBG

Rest in Power