Keep it simple on earth day

Earth Day: a day to spread inspiration and knowledge on doing our part to keep our beautiful Earth functional and strong.

Mindful Moment: Pause for a minute and think about the relationships between various living things here on Earth.

Those quiet moments may have brought about peace and appreciation for all of the beauty that our world has to offer or your mind may have become overwhelmed with feelings of frustration on all the things that we could be doing for our planet. Wherever you are on that spectrum, acknowledge and embrace your feelings.

With those feelings, envision one new habit you could launch that would inspire the children in your home or classroom to follow. Maybe it is...

• turning off the water while you scrub your hands or brush your teeth.
• choosing paper over plastic.
• picking up trash on the ground rather than walking past it.
• demonstrating more awareness for recycling (think about how many times a piece of paper ends up in the trash rather than the recycling bin in your classroom...be honest!). ;-)
• getting creative and using items that you collect in your recycling bin to design a piece of art during free play.
• or just say thank you to Mother Earth while playing in her beauty.

It can be easy to forget how often our children and students look to us for guidance. Most often it is through quiet observation-especially with older kiddos. Earth Day is no different. But on this day we can be even more influential as members of our community come together for a similar purpose; to raise awareness for the powerful relationship between living things here on Earth.

So this week, consider keeping it simple. Choose an activity to be more mindful of - one that is practical for all ages. One that can develop into a sustainable habit that benefits the living things here on Earth. Begin to model that behavior, while using explicit - yet simple - language to explain the rationale behind it. Add a proud smile and you may just create a ripple effect.

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“I know it may seem small and insignificant, but it’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” 
~Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’