As humans, we love to celebrate birthdays.  Sometimes there is a huge surprise party with cake, presents and people you may not even know while other times it may just be about spending your special day with the people you love.  Regardless of the celebration method chosen, whether you’re turning 5 or 50, the day is yours and people want it to be your best birthday yet.

Today is not a birthday per se, but it is in fact Earth Day and all the same rules apply.  Have you ever stepped outside of your St. Pete home and thought “wow, this planet is awesome” or “How can I better improve the planet on which I live”?  Maybe you have though this and taken action.  Maybe the thought has never crossed your mind.  Regardless, of where you stand, today is the perfect day to show how thankful we really are for our incredible planet.

After speaking with a few Smith & Associates Real Estate agents and staff members, we came up with a few ways to show our appreciation this Earth Day:

1. Grow Food. According to St. Pete Realtor, Carolyn Robinson, “I have always wanted to grow my own garden but have found more excuses not to than motivation to start.”  We have all experienced good intentions with lack of motivation.   A fully functioning vegetable garden can be a lot of work and extremely intimidating.  Start small- with one plant or a few herbs then take on more as you are able.  You have to start somewhere!

2.  Buy Local. All of the things we are unable to grow have to come from somewhere, and unfortunately, we often unknowingly look outside the Tampa Bay area for these items.  Did those banannas travel thousands of miles, crossing country borders before making it to the grocery store?  What about that new t-shirt?  Where was in made?  Where was the cotton grown?  The more we think about these things, the more we realize how dependent we are on others for survival.  Make a conscious effort to research where all of your purchases come from and give back to the local community by seeing what they have to offer- you will be pleasantly surprised as to what you can buy locally!

3.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This is a big one- we have all heard about recycling but do we really do it?  In our opinion, Smith & Associates Real Estate has one of the most fabulous Marketing Coordinators around, and she’s Earth friendly too!  Alexis Bentivegna shared that recycling isn’t just tossing a soda can into the blue & green bins.  “When shopping, take reusable bags!”  Not only are you reducing the amount of plastic consumed but you’re reusing as well!

4. Respect the Ocean. Florida, being a peninsula, is almost completely surrounded by water; from almost everywhere in the state, we can get to the beach in under an hour.  Living in the Tampa Bay area, we often take the ocean for granted.  According to St. Pete Realtor, Drew Glaser, a great way to respect the ocean is to remember that “all drains lead to the sea”.  This means that what we dispose of goes directly into our oceans, often contaminating the water and killing off thousands of sea life that we depend on to keep our Earth in balance.  By purchasing environmentally friendly products free of harmful chemicals (or making your own!) and being conscious of what we throw away and where it is disposed of, we can keep the ocean happy.  After all, the Earth is about 75% water so we don’t want angry oceans!

5.  “Greenify” Your Home. This doesn’t require that everyone completely remodel their home, switch to solar power or even put your home for sale in Tampa to move into a more environmentally friendly place.  Sara Houze, from Smith Title suggested a couple of simple places to start-  Turn the air off on a nice day and enjoy the breeze through open windows or switch to fluorescent light bulbs that use about 1/3 the power of a regular bulb.  Not only will this be great for the planet but it saves money as well!

6. Consume Less. We are consumers that often buy brand new things off impulse rather than necessity.  According to The Urban Organic Gardner, “before you buy something, ask yourself if you need it.  Then ask again.”  New products use a lot of energy and resources to create.  If you get bitten by the over consumption bug, no worries- it gets the best of us.  If you really MUST have something, then it will be easy to try to find the same thing “slightly used”- they may be old to someone else but they are new to you.  If it isn’t worth the time and effort of the search, then it probably wasn’t worth it to begin with!

7. Eat Less Meat. According to Environmental Defense, “if every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off U.S. roads.”  That is a pretty powerful statement and it doesn’t even mention the THOUSANDS of gallons of water used to raise 1lb of meat.

8. Play Outside. Drew Glaser suggest that people “take their kids outside to play rather than occupying them with television and video games”.  Not only does it help create a healthy way of living by incorporating exercise and imagination into games, but it helps develop an appreciation for our planet that just wouldn’t come to life without experiencing all the Earth has to offer outside of the house.

While these are only a few simple ways to show your appreciation to the Earth, there are COUNTLESS other options.  What are your favorite ways to give back to our planet?  What are you going to do for Earth Day this year?