It’s back again. Earth Day is this weekend, and yet you wouldn’t know it from the lack of hype revolving around this super important day. After the last couple of years, it seems that in many places, Earth Day has been pushed even further out of mind than ever before. Sure, the corporations and retailers of the world are taking advantage of the opportunity to talk about how green they are. However, there seems to be precious few community events at all. If you are determined, as I am, to not let that stop you from celebrating this day anyway, here are a few ways that might be available for you to get your green on.

1. Check in with your local garden center. Earth Day weekend is often utilized as a great time to encourage people to start their gardens. Many garden centers will be offering free gardening classes, as well as sales to help get you started. If you’re new to the garden thing, may I suggest starting small (perhaps with containers), and pick heathy looking plants (and leave the seed option till you’ve developed your green thumb a bit). If you happen to live near an Armstrong Garden Center, then you’re in luck, as in addition to the gardening class on offer this weekend, they’re also giving away free lady bugs with any purchase.
2. If you’ve read my column before, then you know I love a good library. Many local branches will earn that praise this coming week, as they are usually the best option for finding free Earth Day activities. What’s on tap this week will usually include such fan favorites as Eco friendly kids activities, Earth Day themed movie showings, and some will even be sponsoring Earth Day faires. Check in with your librarian to see what they have planned.
3. Several cities will be sponsoring neighborhood eco-waste events this weekend too. Most of these are free, but double check if the signs don’t explicitly state that! Take the opportunity to correctly dispose of unwanted electronics. You’ll reduce your clutter, while making sure nothing bad comes from anything you’re ready to get rid of. Many component get properly recycled, repurposed, and/,or reused this way.
4. Finally, if you can’t find anything of interest around where you live, you can always organize something yourself. One app that can help you with putting together a neighborhood clean-up is Clean Swell. If you’ve ever done a beach clean-up then you might have already heard of this, as many organizers have started using it to record their participants’ progress. However, you can use it as a private individual too, and it’s free. I couldn’t get to any of the larger group clean-ups in the Fall, so I used Clean Swell for the first time to put together a small group closer to home. It was easy, and didn’t take long at all to set up. You can even do a local clean up for just you and your kids if you want. Just type in where you’re doing it, and then choose if you want to record as you go, or do what I did, and record it all at once at the end. The app keeps track of it either way, and you get to see your progress increase the more you participate.
5. Whatever you choose, just make sure to have fun, and of course, remember why it’s called Earth Day in the first place. Happy Earth Day Everyone!