I’m A Superhero!  My Shelves Will Help Me Save the Planet! 

We celebrate Earth Day this week, April 22nd.

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I try to practice Earth Day Every Day, from two directions: setting an example by being eco-friendly in our home and business; and encouraging and informing others with eco-friendly resources. So here are three steps to becoming an Environmental Super-hero, and my real-life Earth Day organizing project (elapsed time, 45 minutes-ish).

Here is how to make positive changes in your behavior, to make Earth Day Every Day:

1.  Know your “Why?”:  Why should we take better care of our environment, on a personal or local level?
  • Obviously, it’s good the environment, which helps all of us.
  • I want to set a good example for my sons, my community and my clients, by choosing environmentally sound practices like recycling and conservation.
  • I want to do Good, even when no one is watching.
  • Being eco-friendly can save money.
  • I despise clutter and stagnant “stuff”, so keeping things moving around, either for charitable donation or recycling, makes me happy.
  • What’s Your “Why”?

2.  Establish and Maintain Eco-Friendly Habits:
  • Decide for yourself and your family / business what type of eco-friendly strategies you want to employ.  We choose:
  • Conservation: My 5th grader’s class talked about water conservation a few months ago, and he brought home a great little tool, a 5-minute shower timer that hangs in the shower. I also recognized an unconscious habit just this morning: as we leave the house in the morning, I walk around turning off lights and fans.
  • Charitable Donations: we have a bin in the laundry room for clothing cast-offs to donate to charity.
  • Recycling: paper, glass, plastic and metal, plus responsibly disposing of EWaste.

3.  Establish Space for your Eco-Friendly Habits:
  • I’m the first to admit that sometimes, the right and eco-friendly thing to do feels like a hassle.
  • I spent time in my garage over the weekend, cleaning up our recycling practices by dedicating garage space for recycling / returns / donations.
  • You see, my clients often ask me to recycle the clutter they choose to purge, and I’m happy to help.  Clothing and household items donated to local charities; books donated to my local library; e-waste dropped at local E-Waste recycling sites.  I don’t always have a chance to drop stuff off right away, though, so stuff accumulates in my van / garage (because it NEVER comes in my home).  And we suffer when items linger (as CLUTTER!) in our garage until I can drop them off at their appropriate eco-friendly destination.
  • So, finally, after assembling dozens of similar shelving units for clients, I bought and assembled chrome sh001elves for my garage. This tall (6 feet) set of shelves can hold all the recycling items as they pause on their way to drop-off, plus my extra organizing supplies and any client returns I might have after a job.  My van is much cleaner now, thank goodness, as is my garage, and my habits will be easier to maintain.
  • So a trip to Home Depot, a little $$ and an hour of my time will help me keep my garage and van cleaner while I protect the environment by using and encouraging eco-friendly clutter destinations.  Seems like a worthwhile investment to me!

So, this week and every week, and this Earth Day and Every Day, what can you do to be a little kinder to our environment? Be a Hero!  Choose your “Why”, Create Your Habit, and Make Some Space!