Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day, an annual event that takes place on April 22nd to demonstrate support for environmental protection and to celebrate our planet. People mark the occasion by planting trees, picking up trash, engaging in advocacy, reducing plastic use, and more!

There are tons of ways to show respect to our planet, and several of them involve food, nutrition, and the Farmers Market! Below are just a few ways to celebrate the Earth!

  1. Bring your reusable bag! Nearly 2 million plastic bags are used and disposed of EVERY MINUTE. Plus, a plastic bag can take anywhere from 15 to 1,000 years to break down. One person using reusable bags over their lifetime would remove more than 22,000 plastic bags from the environment.
  2. Shop local! Eating local reduces your carbon footprint as it saves on energy and gas costs that would be used to ship food to supermarkets all over the country. Additionally, when purchasing animal products, those animals have been raised more humanely than they would be on factory farms. Local food is also more nutrient dense, as it is picked at the peak of freshness.
  3. Compost! CCE-Broome offers composting resources here: http://ccebroomecounty.com/environment/composting and also offers composting workshops. Bins can purchased though the Broome County Department of Solid Waste (more info here: https://www.gobroomecounty.com/solidwaste/composting). Don’t have room to compost? Sign up for CCE Broome’s Community Composting program! http://ccebroomecounty.com/environment/community-composting?fbclid=IwAR17r2Qqx46oE9cxxSLp_-0zooxOsqKFGAQvmYmfbPy-yh_kzXI3HkD2tJs
  4. Grow a Garden from your Food Scraps! That’s right, several veggies will regenerate with a little TLC. Lettuce, celery, garlic and onions, among others, can all be re-grown at home. Check at this article for a how-to: https://www.diyncrafts.com/4732/repurpose/25-foods-can-re-grow-kitchen-scraps

We hope that you find these tips helpful! What are your favorite Earth Day tips? Tell us in the comments!