Earth Day 2024

As stated by the earth day founders themselves, Earth Day isn’t just a day, It's a movement. Earth Day is a movement of hearts, minds and ideas of how we can be kinder to this large spinning rock that we all call home.

 The main focus of Earth Day revolves around a subject that we at Nestie are really passionate about – increasing the overall health of our planet. 

Originating from the U.S, the idea for Earth Day came about when Senator Gaylord Nelson – a junior senator at the time – noticed the obvious deterioration of the environment and then to top it off, in 1969, an oil spill in California caused devastation when over 3 MILLION gallons of oil from a nearby offshore oil field filled the Santa Barbra Channel. 

The spill caused havoc with marine life, causing death to much of the aquatic life, damage to the beaches, the coastline and killing over 3000 sea birds. 

Senator Nelson teamed up with a young activist called Davis Hayes who would lead the talks and spread what would eventually become the Earth Day message.

Behind Earth Day, is an idea that we can work together to collectively help repair the damage that has been caused to the earth by decades and even centuries of living, consuming and thriving as a species, at the expense of our planet, its resources and ultimately, its health.  

It’s time that we all took a portion of ourselves and dedicate it to maintaining the health of our planet so our families and our wider communities can enjoy worry free, prosperous futures without the anxieties cause by the uncertainties surrounding the state of our environment. 

Earth Day is about coming together as a single, collective community where the goal is one and the same – to educate, encourage and support a movement to a more sustainable future. 

And this is where we come in... 

Many of us have influence over children, whether you’re a parent, an auntie, an uncle, or just a friend of someone who has kids. No matter what we do when we’re around kids, they will be watching, and they will be learning. It’s our job as grown-ups to teach children and show them how they can contribute to the subjects that make Earth Day so important as they themselves become responsible members of the wider community. 

So what wisdom can we impart? 

Spending time with children, focusing on important subjects such as climate change, environmental deterioration and plastic contamination of the ocean doesn’t sound much fun. And that’s because it’s not. It’s a really serious subject. But, as with anything, it’s our job to protect the children in our care and there are some things we can do to bring up the subject in a fun and productive way that children of any age can understand. 

Turn it into a game 

The best way to get kids interested in anything is to turn it into a game. If you make it fun, kids will be there and they will be happy. It’s like telling a child to go and grab you something from the other end of the room.... Ask them nicely and they’re not interested. Tell them you’ll count how fast they can do it and they’ll be back with your stuff in 3 seconds flat. If you make something fun, kids will be invested. 

So what can you do to get kids interested in the environment? Here’s a few ideas to get you started so you can take part in Earth Day 2024: 

1. Swap single use for reusable – Take your single use plastic bags to the supermarket and recycle them. While you’re there, trade up for some heavy duty, reusable ones that you can use time and time again. 
   
   
2. Save and re-purpose 10 plastic bottles – If you’re trying idea number 1, this is easy. Turn each bottle into a mini green house and grow your own fruits and veggies. We grew sunflowers in ours! If you’ve got smaller seedlings, you can use the cut off tops of the bottles to cover your seedlings and protect them from mice and rabbits. You could make a bird feeder, a watering can or use them for arts and crafts projects. 
   
   
3. Start a compost heap – The next time you cut your grass, or have food to throw away (preferably uncooked and no meat), why not compost it? Compost, is great for your garden as well as the organisms living inside the soil. It’s a great way to teach kids how soil and plant life works, and how compost acts as a food source for the organisms inside the soil and how healthy soil life means healthy plants. Not only will your garden become healthier, you’ll save money on buying compost if you like to grow your own fruits, veg and flowers. 
   
   Additionally, re-using food waste stops the food going into landfill and all the associated environmental costs that comes with getting it there. Making compost is simple – simply mix equal parts green materials with equal parts brown. Greens are things like grass, kitchen scraps and even used coffee grounds (even though these look brown). Browns are things like dried leaves, animal bedding and newspaper. 
   
   
4. Make an Earth Day 2024 poster – Take some time to teach your children directly about the environment in a way that you’ll know they’ll understand. Draw pictures of the problems we face such bottles washed up on beaches and then explain to your kids what we could do to help the fight against plastic. Design and plan a mind-map of solutions and encourage your kids to think of creative ways we could put a stop to the problems that our planet is facing. 
   
   
5. Plant something! - Have a go at planting one or more of your favorite fruits, veggies or flowers with your kids. We’re in the thick of spring now and it’s warm enough to sow most seeds. Make it your mission to swap 5 things from your supermarket shopping list for something that’s home grown. See our “How to sow seeds...” blog for info on how to do it. Alternatively, you could make some “seed bombs” with the kids (see our blog post here or our Instagram video for instructions - @nestieuk)! 

By taking part in Earth Day, you’re doing your bit in becoming part of the solution to our current climate crisis. Every step we make towards reducing our plastic usage and the waste that goes to landfill, reducing our carbon footprint and becoming more sustainable is a step towards a brighter, and more certain future for our children and for future generations.  

We wish you a happy and healthy Earth Day 2024.