Earth Protect Blog

By Grant Barbeito Founder, Vice President and Creative Director, www.earthprotect.com

As the founder of www.earthprotect.com, I struggle every April with wanting to tell the world something amazing that happens on Earth Day. The truth is there, is less of a worldwide celebration than I would like to see. To me, the most important part of Earth Day is to communicate with our children or the young people in our lives about ways that we can honor our planet and protect her for generations to come.

I have put together a simple list of cool things you can do with youth to make Earth Day meaningful this year and the years ahead. Feel free to share these ideas and to add to the list.

1.     Teach! Children need to know about the air we breathe and nature’s role in creating our eco-system that we depend on. You can teach them something simple about the trees and their role in creating oxygen by doing a little one-to-one sharing, getting a book or searching the web.

2.     Watch a movie or a show about the environment. Disney is releasing BEARS, Chimpanzee is playing on HBO, and we here at Earth Protect have almost 4,000 short films on the environment! Pick a subject and learn something about the world around you.

3.     Visit an aquarium, botanical garden or zoo.We do have concerns with caging animals but zoos and aquariums are the way people are able to learn first hand about animals and how we can begin to care about them. They are also vital for research and preservation of endangered species. They deepen our understanding of how amazing and unique small and big creatures are and how all life is connected on our planet.

4.     Pick up Trash. Teaching our children to put their garbage in designated areas / NOT to litter is a big win for us all. Trash that is throw on the ground ends up in overloaded landfills, and spoils our environment. Go one more step - teach them to not ignore litter, but to pick it up and dispose of it in the proper trash bins.

5.     Take a hike!  Find a pretty place and walk for an hour exploring what the world around you has to offer. Chances are there are birds flying, bugs crawling, flowers blooming and sites to see.

6.     Join Earth Protect. Share your personal story on Earth Protect. We want to know what’s happening in your life to protect our Earth. Sometimes the news is not pretty, but to make change we start by being aware and learning about solutions. To get involved, simply share your story and be part of protecting our planet.

HAPPY EARTH DAY