The region has made great progress improving our environment and communities. From cleaning up the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers, to reducing waste and trash, to preserving agriculture and the tree canopy, and combatting climate change, today on this 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day, we remember decades of action that have gotten us to this place.

Celebrating How We Got Here

The first Earth Day was celebrated fifty years ago, on April 22, 1970, by bringing together an estimated 20 million people across the United States for teach-ins and rallies about environmental and species conservation. Earth Day connected how we were polluting our environment to our health and well-being.

Earth Day answered calls about the need to protect our environment. Aldo Leopold published A Sand County Almanac in 1949 on moral respect for the environment. Rachael Carson wrote Silent Spring in 1962 at her home in Colesville, Maryland, cataloging how the indiscriminate use of pesticides was poisoning people and nature.

1969 brought pollution clogging the air we breathed, and raw sewage dumped into our rivers and lakes. Americans saw the deep environmental damage from an oil spill in the waters of California and the Cuyahoga River fire in Ohio. The Potomac River was called a national disgrace and the Anacostia River suffocated from decades of toxic pollution and raw sewage.

Earth Day launched a wave of action, the environmental laws we rely on today to improve our lives, including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act. The federal Environmental Protection Agency was created late in 1970 to bring federal environmental protection together in one coordinated home.

We can’t duplicate the 1970 public teach-ins and events today due to COVID-19, but there are many actions we can take individually and with our families in our homes to mark this 50^th Earth Day. Working as a family unit or community and changing the little things will make a big difference over the long term.

Be a Clean Air Partner

It’s easier than you may think.

• Bundle your errands, especially on Code Orange or Red unhealthy air quality days.
• Trade-in your charcoal grill for gas or electric.
• Use eco-friendly yard care products.
• Maintain an energy efficient home.

​Reduce  Waste, Go Recycle

• Follow the waste hierarchy. Don’t use or buy what you don’t need, then reuse, recycle and compost. Dispose as a last resort. For example, drinking tap water avoids generating more plastic or glass bottle waste – and only costs you about a penny per gallon!
• Think about how goods are packaged. Are recyclable materials used or is it overpackaged? If overpackaged, is there a brand that uses less packaging? 
• Bring a reusable bag. Even in the COVID-19 world, we can bag our groceries in reusable bags in most stores.
• Ask restaurants to skip the plastic utensils and straws for takeout and delivery.
• Compost food and yard waste at home - a great way to build healthy soil in our communities.
• Put on a mask and gloves, grab a garbage bag, follow social distancing, and pick up litter in your neighborhood or along a nearby stream. While Earth Day group events are canceled this year, we can still clean up our neighborhoods.

Lower Your Food Footprint

• If you‘re able at this time, eat seasonal, locally produced fresh food, and don’t waste the food you buy. 
• Know your farmer. Purchase a Community Supported Agriculture or CSA share, or pre-order from a local farmers market. View COG’s regional CSA directory.
• Look up how much water and energy goes into the food you eat at sites like www.eatlowcarbon.org and www.foodprint.org. 

Plant a Tree

• One popular way to celebrate Earth Day is to plant a tree. Don’t forget to maintain the trees and plants you already have. They will thrive given the correct trimming and water, extending their lives and your enjoyment.
• Use native plants in your yard. Good guidance is available from the DC-Maryland Native Plant Society or the Virginia Native Plant Society.

Educate for Earth Day

• Explore nature in your neighborhood. Take a walk with your family while social distancing from others and identify the many plants in your community.
• Learn all about water science with DC Water’s distance learning tool.  
• The iNaturalist app is a great tool to use in identifying plants and insects.  There is even a kid-friendly Seek by iNaturalist tool you can use.

• Use Project Learning Tree Earth Day Activities or the NASA Earth Day 2020 50^th Anniversary Toolkit for more ideas. 

Use our Water Wisely

• Protect Your Pipes. Don’t flush wipes or put fats, oil and grease or medications down the drain. Protect Your Pipes.
• Fix leaky toilets and faucets around your home. We may see higher water bills as we all social distance at home. Now is a good time to fix leaks and lower your water bill.
• Install a rain barrel to water your garden and reduce runoff into our streams and rivers.
• Buying a new faucet, shower head or toilet? Get a WaterSense product that will work well and use less water.

You Have the Power

• Change to LED lights and turn them off when not in use.
• Install and use a programmable thermostat.
• When it gets hot outside and air conditioners are working hard, use window treatments to shade from direct sunlight. On cold days, open your shades and let the sun in.
• Change the air filter in your air conditioner, heat pump. or furnace. Write the installation date on the filter and then mark your calendar when it is time to change to a new filter.
• Buy EnergySTAR products. These are tested to save you energy month after month as they work.
• Vacuum the coils on your refrigerator. Dust acts just like insulation and makes your refrigerator work harder and cost you more on your electric bill.
• Seal air leaking into your home and add insulation to reduce winter heat loss and summer heat gain.
• Buy green power for your home or business.

Don’t Go it Alone

• Once we get back to regularly traveling to work, schools, and shopping, consider whether you can walk, bike, take a bus, take Metro, or share a ride with a friend, family member or co-worker.
• Trip plan to combine trips and drive less – to save gasoline and reduce air pollution.
• Switch to a plug-in electric vehicle to reduce air pollution for when we do drive.
• Commuter Connections is a great place for more on what you can do.

Steve Walz is COG’s Director of Environmental Programs.