Earth Day 2021 - Restore our Earth
April 22nd is Earth Day – The theme of Earth Day 2021 is Restore Our Earth
Climate change and other environmental degradations have broken many of Earth’s natural systems, leading to new diseases as well as global economy breakdowns. “Restore Our Earth” offers us an opportunity to make an individual contribution now to slow the degradation and start to restore a balance.
We must Restore Our Earth not just because we care about the natural world, but because we live on it. Every one of us needs a healthy Earth to support our own health & survival, livelihoods and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option — it is a necessity.
Pledge one new action to help to restore our Earth as part of Churt’s Earth Day 2021 initiative.
Please tell us what your pledged action is so that we can list and map Churt’s response to Earth Day 2021. Just email Churt Environment Working Group at churtenvironment@gmail.com saying what your pledge is and your address or postcode. We won’t publish names.
Here are a few ideas with supporting information and resources – but if they aren’t the right ones for you, then just choose something else that is. You will also find more ideas on the Earth Day webpage or in other content on this website.
Plant a tree, a wood or a hedgerow
Planting trees is a great way to enhance your garden whilst playing a vital role in protecting the environment. Six native trees will absorb and store about a tonne of carbon dioxide over their lifetimes. Planting trees also helps to guard against soil erosion, reduces the effects of flooding, and absorbs air pollution.
Remember that planting is just the beginning – the tree will need initial protection and probably some early watering to develop to maturity.
Surrey Wildlife Trust has a great guide to planting a tree including a helpful list of native trees. Native trees are best for helping native insects and animals to thrive. Ideally, a native tree that has been grown from local stock will be best adapted to local conditions Order soon for autumn planting.
If you are able to plant a number of trees or a length of hedgerow, there is more information, including about grants, on the Trees and Hedgerows page on this website. The Woodland Trust has details on large scale plantings and some free packs for eligible projects. They also have a shop though this is temporarily closed.
Change a gardening habit – garden sustainably
Creating and maintaining the sort of beautiful gardens that we see around Churt can unknowingly, to the gardener, damage our natural environment, exacerbate the climate crisis and even endanger our health.
Check out the Sustainable Gardening pages for details on four great ideas for your Earth Day Action Pledge:
Bring back our beetles
Beetles are a vital part of any wildlife garden. They will munch on garden insects like aphids and snails, whilst acting as food for our larger garden visitors such as hedgehogs and birds. Unfortunately, beetle populations are threatened by things like pesticides, habitat loss and climate change - but you can help!
Download your guide to Bringing Back Beetles in your own garden, with instructions for building your very own beetle bucket, beetle bank, or dead hedge. It is published by “Wild About Gardens which is a joint Wildlife trust and RHS initiative. You can find more great family resources on helping wildlife at the bottom of their homepage.
Reduce food waste
Food waste reduction is one of the most important things individuals can do to help reduce global warming.Food that is never eaten or used still has environmental costs — from the land and resources used to make the food to the transporting of ingredients to stores. We can all do our part to reduce our food waste to help the planet.
Test your knowledge with this quiz on the power of upcycled foods and then make your own action pledge to reduce the serious problem of climate harming food waste.
Please tell us what your pledged action is so that we can list and map Churt’s response to Earth Day 2021. Just email Churt Environment Working Group at churtenvironment@gmail.com saying what your pledge is plus your address or postcode.