Happy Earth Day 2008

It's that time of year again, no not Christmas, it's Earth Day, in my opinion one of the most important environmental days of the year. Here's hoping a few more people take up the challenge of separating your garbage into recyclables and non-recyclables. Perhaps even start a compost bin with food scraps, let's try to reduce our waste to more manageable levels.

While you're at it, change to longer lasting energy efficient lightbulbs to reduce your carbon footprint, or take a walk to the local shops for that pint of milk you need instead of hopping in the car and driving to the next shopping center. You'll feel better for it I promise.

Where we live we don't have a garden big enough so we aren't able to plant a tree, but at the weekend we bought a few more pots for small shrubs in our patio. The other half is also growing cuttings of native plants she's seen in the area to try and encourage a few more native insects to come to our patio. It isn't much, and might seem like a wasted effort but we believe it's important to do.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we're going to go our today, using human power, and enjoy our planet, smell the fresh air, perhaps get our knees dirty whilst we take a few photographs, and then enjoy a packed lunch on the hills around us. I might even take the time to lie on the ground and stare at the clouds long enough to make up shapes in the sky. Happy Earth Day everyone!