How to Succeed at Your Earth Day Goals

On April 22, you can participate in Earth Day through taking time in your day to better care for the planet. Simple actions like turning off unnecessary lights or cooking at home instead of dining out make a big impact, especially when these small actions multiply with millions of people taking similar steps. Suddenly, anything is possible, and your goals reflect that. 

Somehow, though, when the clock strikes midnight, Earth Day becomes like old New Year’s resolutions. That dream of change ends when your daily life makes it difficult for immediate results. 

You might break that new resolution when faced with the changes. Maybe you decided to start recycling, but that online shopping habit isn’t going to disappear, and neither are the boxes piling up in the garage. After a day of fully recognizing how you can impact your world, it’s tiring to continue changing your habits, especially for what seems like a monumental task. You reason out your decision, but you still feel the disappointment.  

Earth Day comes once a year, but your lifestyle shouldn’t change for one day only.  

Don’t be so hard on yourself for not creating change instantly. Instead, remember those small but impactful acts. To accomplish your Earth Day goals, set realistic goals for your everyday life. 

Take a lesson from your local dairy farmers, who continuously strive to better care for the land they work. Helping create a healthy planet for future generations is a constant goal. Farmers use the food remains that people can’t digest, such as orange pulps, to produce cow feed. They reduce the land and water usage they need to successfully run the farm so their community benefits from a sustainable lifestyle. Farmers look for areas of improvement and get to fixing. With benefits to change showing, that resolve doesn’t fade. 

Remember why you set goals each Earth Day. Small goals can turn into real change. To reduce food waste (and save some money), preplan your meals by taking note of what ingredients you own and need to use before they go bad. If you don’t have a recycling service, team up with others and take turns dropping off items at recycling centers. Get some exercise by taking the stairs. (For those working on the tenth floor, maybe just walk those last few floors!) Pack meals for work in reusable bags and bottles. With sustainability part of a farmer’s life, fulfilling your own environmental promises are doable. When your acts of sustainability are realistic for your life, they have the impact of your dreams. A little from all of us goes a long way for our planet!