With Earth Day coming up, many people are starting to think of ways they can help the environment. Earth Day is a yearly event on April 22 created to show support for environmental protection. There are a multitude of ways a person can help the environment, ranging from recycling to planting trees.   Anyone can help the environment every day. 

The most common way people help the environment is to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Reducing means to minimize the amount of materials and goods we waste. For example, many people use the three day rule. According to OhioValleyWaste, “To determine your true needs and avoid impulse buys, try the three day rule: if you want to buy something non-essential, wait three days. If you’re still thinking about it three days later, then you can buy it. More than likely, you will have forgotten about it.” Reusing is when you take an item that may have been discarded, and find a new purpose for it. A good example of this would be using old clothes as rags to clean your house. Recycling, probably the most well known, is the act of converting old items or waste into new materials and objects. Thrift stores are an excellent example of this. Savers redistributes 700 million pounds of clothing and textiles each year, rather than being sent to landfills, according to their website. 

Another amazing way you can help the environment everyday is by volunteering. A person is able to volunteer for many, many things such as planting trees, protecting public lands, hosting a clean up, and joining a movement. Planting trees helps the environment an incredible amount. They do so many things, including providing food and shelter for wildlife. The National Wildlife Federation states that protecting public lands is essentially, “safeguarding special places and landscapes that provide habitat for wildlife and recreational opportunities for people.” 

Hosting a clean up is an amazing thing anyone can do. You do not have to gather a huge amount of people, a few should suffice. It can be as simple as picking up litter on the beach or along rivers. Picking up trash reduces the endangerment for wildlife and decreases pollution. People who join a movement tend to want to make an impact on a larger scale. The Sierra Club and 350 are very good organizations to help you get started.

There are so many different ways that an individual could help out the environment. Whether that be from recycling or planting trees, everyone is capable of helping. Earth Day is the 22nd of this month and a major thing you can do to help is donate to charities that support the environment. Join the world’s largest environmental movement and donate to EarthDay.org.