Earth Day 4.22.22!

Posted by Kirsten Pisto, Communications

Join your zoo on Earth Day 2022!

This Earth Day April 22, 2022, we are investing in our planet. Here's how to do more for planet Earth, one flutter of a butterfly wing at a time.

1. Join the 2022 City Nature Challenge. A perfect, and family friendly, way to focus your attention on nature and show your appreciation for your neighborhood flora and fauna. (This year, we've provided translations in Chinese, Russian, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese.)

The butterfly effect is real.

2. You can Name a Pollinator in honor of Earth Day! Support your zoo and choose from a bumblebee, hummingbird or butterfly. Gifts of any amount make a big difference in our work to preserve pollinator habitats, restore threatened butterfly populations and educate millions of visitors about the importance of biodiversity in sustaining all life.

Name a Pollinator in honor of planet Earth!
zoo.org/nameapollinator

3. Dive into protecting pollinators! We have an entire web page dedicated to Northwest pollinators and ways you can join your community in providing habitat, food and flowers aplenty for these incredible species. Learn about big picture pollinator conservation, find gardening tips and discover ways your family can appreciate the little details. It's all here: zoo.org/nw/pollinators

Get your pollinator on! zoo.org/nw/pollinators

Here are some more ways to celebrate:

You can support conservation in the Northwest and around the world with a zoo membership
You can shop with animals in mind
You can choose wildlife-friendly treats
You can recycle your electronics
You can adopt a hornbill nest
You can go all in for carnivores
And you can do so much more! (Seriously take a peek!)

Show your stripes for Endangered Species like Bumi the Malayan tiger.

Show and Tell

Climate change. Just hearing the phrase can feel overwhelming. Preaching to the choir is easy, but have the courage to have tough conversations with your colleagues, family and friends who might not be as keen to make lifestyle changes. More often than not, you will find common ground and if that ground means inching another person towards actions that reduce consumption, protect habitat and aim their buying power towards sustainable practice then you have done a lot. Be a role model to neighbors by hosting an Earth Day clean up on your block, or start a Green Team with colleagues. You never know just how much impact you can have until you begin.

Control what you can control.

Taking individual responsibility for your footprint is not necessarily a waste of time. Is turning your yard into a pollinator-friendly space going to single-handedly stop global warming, save tigers from extinction and reforest the Amazon? Of course not, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. If you can do more to turn your home and habitat into a more sustainable environment it is worth doing. Slow your fashion, slow your food, ask for ideas. 

Challenge yourself to do less.

Doing more doesn't mean adding more to your already full plate, in fact, sometimes doing more for the planet means doing less. For instance, you could participate in No Mow May to help pollinators, cut your buying habits a bit and you might be happier, or consider implementing a slower Saturday for your family.

Reforest it.

Join your zoo in slowing climate change and saving wildlife one tree at a time. Forests are the key to climate resilience and our survival. Reforesting is the cool thing to do.

Advocate at every level.

Along with individual action, we need collective and corporate change. Start something in your community or inner circle. Consider investing in sustainability,  support legislation that protects the most vulnerable in your region and rally for climate justice. Support leaders and ideas who prioritize protecting our planet and vote like your future depends on it. Protect the Endangered Species Act.

Inspire young ones. Here are a few of our favorite children's books that can get your family thinking about ecocentric living (and they are not just for kids). Be a role model in going green when you can and encourage the young people in your life to do the same.

• You Belong Here by M.H. Clark
• Here We Are: Notes For Living On Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers
• A River by Marc Martin
• A Walk in the Forest by Maria Dek
• The Honeybee by Kristen Hall
• The Little Gardener by Emily Hughes

Level up your Northwest conservation. Can simply appreciating the outdoors and discovering nature in your own backyard help the planet? We think so. Here's a whole bunch of ways to Discover, Recover and Coexist in the NW. #IAmLivingNorthwest

Happy Earth Day, every day. xoxo

Happy Earth Day from Batu!