EVERY DAY IS EARTH DAY

“You have a whole life in the outdoors, you realize you have a sense of 

responsibility to protect these wild places.”

-Yvon Chouinard

As you're probably already aware, today is Earth Day! Really though, every day should be Earth Day. Making environmentally conscious choices 1 day a year just doesn't seem like enough to help protect this beautiful planet we live on.

To say I love nature is a little of an understatement. I grew up living 2 hours away from Yosemite National Park and would go on trips there throughout my life. I think my trips to Yosemite is what really sparked my love for nature, the outdoors, and the wilderness. I also spent every summer going up to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada to go swimming in the Merced River with my family, and friends. Just like Yvon's quote on the top of this post, I really feel like when you grow up being connected with nature, you feel the need to do more to keep the wilderness wild.

These past few years, I've really got into watching a lot of documentaries. Particularly, I always find myself drawn to the ones about nature and protecting the environment.

These documentaries are both a blessing and a curse in my life. I'm no longer completely ignorant about how our consumption habits and mindless spending impact this earth, but at the same time I'm starting to really analyze every purchase I make, which can be exhausting. I'm really starting to cut back on what I purchase with the hope that one day everything in my life will be a necessity or have a useful function, and not just be clutter.

Useful questions I ask myself before buying something:
"Do I need it?"
"Is it high quality enough that it will last and I won't have to replace it soon?"
"Do I already own something similar?"
"Will I miss it if I don't buy it?"
"Will it benefit my life?"
"Okay, but do I reeeeally need it?" (This is usually the one that gets me.)

Although I'm much more knowledgeable now than I've been before, I still have a long way to go. Don't get me wrong, I still buy sodas in cans and bottles (because I'm a complete Mountain Dew addict), but at least now I feel bad about it. I have changed a lot of the ways I spend my money though and for me, that's a nice improvement. It's nice to be aware of how my own purchases are affecting places on this earth.


Some of my favorite quotes about protecting the environment and being a smarter consumer:

• “You have a whole life in the outdoors, you realize you have a sense of responsibility to protect these wild places.”  -Yvon Chouinard
• "Everything we personally own that’s made, sold, shipped, stored, cleaned, and ultimately thrown away does some environmental harm every step of the way, harm that we’re either directly responsible for or is done on our behalf.” -Yvon Chouinard
• "God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools." -John Muir
• “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people. ” -Franklin D. Roosevelt 
•  “Going back to a simpler life based on living by sufficiency rather than excess is not a step backward.” -Yvon Chouinard

Netflix documentaries that will change your life:

• 180 Degrees South
• DamNation
• (There's a bunch on plastic that will make you feel terrible about all the plastic you don't realize you use everyday, but right now I can't remember any of the titles)

Happy Earth Day, friends!
At the risk of sounding preachy... may we all do a little better to keep our mother earth in mind every day. :)