Earth Day began in 1970 and is celebrated each year on April 22, as people come together to make our planet a safer and cleaner place to live. The Earth Day Network has several ongoing initiatives, including protection of our planet’s species, ending plastic pollution, planting new trees, and reducing carbon outputs and overall resource consumption. This post will focus on water conservation, water pollution, and ways you can help reduce your water footprint!

  1. Local Cleanup Projects: Look in your area to find cleanup projects, whether you’re local to a nearby river or the coast! Spending an afternoon picking up litter and helping to clean up natural areas is a great project for the whole family and can lead to new like-minded friends.
  2. Switch Cleaning Products: Look for biodegradable and eco-friendly cleaning supplies to avoid long-lasting pollutants being added to the water supply.
  3. Reduce Disposable Plastics: Single use plastic items like cups and straws have a tendency to wash up on beaches and pollute rivers and oceans. Reduce them in your personal life and you’ll help reduce their impact on the environment.
  4. Reduce Water Flow: Switch to low-flow toilets, faucet aerators, and shower heads. Faucet and shower head aerators are easy swaps that maintain water pressure but use less water, which is great for drought-prone areas. You can also practice taking quicker showers overall to reduce water waste.
  5. Be Efficient: Appliances like dishwashers are ok, but if you’re updating or buying a new one any time soon, look for an energy-efficient model. Also, only run the dishwasher and washing machine when you have a full load, to cut down on wasted water.
  6. Keep Low-Water Houseplants: Surprise! Even the plant lovers among us can reduce water consumption. The following plants don’t need much water to stay healthy and strong, so they’re great for reducing your overall water footprint and conserving water in drought-prone areas.
  • Succulents (water every two to four weeks)
  • Money Tree (only two ice cubes per week)
  • Orchids (only three ice cubes per week)
  • Sansevieria/Snake Plant (water every two to four weeks)
  • ZZ Plant (water every two to four weeks)

Tag us on Earth Day and every day when you share your plants with us on Instagram - @maxandmilesplants.