Earth Day tips for your health and the environment

My apologies for missing the Earth Day 2010 (April 22) by a day. That is what happens when you blog and travel at the same time. However, it is never too late to start our own personal Earth Day initiative.

Somebody told me recently (my big brother actually) that he doesn’t believe in the slogan “Save Mother Earth.” According to him, Mother Earth has been here for zillions of years and will still be here when we are gone. That whatever we do to Mother Earth, she has her ways and means of compensating and recovering – be it in the form of earthquakes, hurricanes, or volcano eruptions. Mother Earth is strong and resilient. She has outlived the ice ages, the dinosaurs, countless of wars. She will outlive other major disasters. The question is: can we? As big bro has said, our slogan should be “Save the Human Race.”

I fully agree with my philosophical brother. That is why, I am always thinking of ways and mean of saving ourselves in the short- and long-term. Saving ourselves in the short-term means paying attention to our health. Saving ourselves in the long-term means paying attention to what we do to our environment. And there is no reason that we cannot combine these. Here is how:

Walk or cycle. By walking or taking the bike, you do your heart and health a lot of good, at the same time you help decrease carbon emission.

Buy local and fresh. Go for local produce. Local products are less likely to be loaded with chemicals that extend their shelf-life. And they needed less fossil fuel to get to the supermarket shelves. Local produce also needs less packaging, thus less garbage.

If you buy organic, then buy the real organics. If you buy organic, then go for the real organic products that take into consideration not the methods used in the production process but the labor and transport methods as well. From my point of view, a product labeled as organic but has flown thousands of miles to get to my dining table defeats the very principle of organic farming.

Save water. Water is a very precious resource. Every drop counts! Check out these resources: A to Z of water saving tips, BBC News; Water Saving Tips, Sydney Water; American Water and Energy Savers.

Recycle. Everything matters, no matter how small. Save, reuse and recycle.

Keep yourself fit and healthy. The healthier you are, the less you will need in terms of medicine and health services, and the less is your impact on natural environment. Maintaining a healthy weight helps reduce carbon emission. A healthy environment supports a healthy population.

Preserve your health. Preserve our environment. Save the human race.