Today is Earth Day. A day meant to pay respect and appreciation for the land we live upon. The weather in Smithtown is a perfect spring 60 degrees, equipped with clear skies and the perfect subtle breeze. With this beautiful day in front of our eyes, Smithtown Today would like to remind our readers of a few simple ways to say Thank You to mother Earth.
Add an Oxygen Friendly Plant to your Garden
Oxygen is life and anyone who’s spent time along the beautiful shores of Long Island knows the benefits of fresh O2. In fact, oxygen is the single most essential element used in hospitals, known to combat disease, cancer cells and deadly pathogens. Even trendy bars and luxury hotels have O2 bars to give their clientele the vital mood boosting brain food. Unfortunately for the earth’s inhabitants, air pollution has caused the ratio of oxygen to other molecules in the Earth’s atmosphere to drop, consistently for decades. Help keep your family and furry companions healthy by planting O2 producing plants in your garden. Sweet pea, buckwheat and sunflower sprouts are edible and provide supplemental oxygen levels for the body. Mother-in-laws tongue (or Snake Plant) is a fantastic indoor plant which doubles as an air filtration system. The curly green leaves convert Carbon Dioxide into Oxygen at night time, making this ornamental greenery doubly efficient, instead of spending money on expensive air purifiers.
Give someone a Gift of Clean Air
Bringing a low maintenance houseplant over to someone who you care about on Earth Day is a great way to spread the knowledge. Remember, caring is contagious! Anthurium’s are lilies with big green leaves and a heart shaped flower. These plants rarely need watering or much effort to keep blooming and are known for eliminating Ammonia, Formaldehyde, Toluene and Xylene in the air. The Peace Lily, or Spathiphyllum is another common houseplant known for cleaning the air of toxins like Acetone, Ammonia, Benzene, Ethyl Acetate, Formaldehyde, Methyl Alcohol and Trichloroethylene.
Group Beach Clean Up
Get a group of your friends together for a visit to one of Smithtown’s beaches. Bring gloves, garbage bags and useful tools to pick up evidence of man like glass bottles, plastics and harmful waste for marine life. Take the time to connect with your friends while doing some good for the environment. Get social by documenting the day with photos and videos and put them online. Show your circles of friends how you made a difference today… At the very least you will bring attention to the smalls ways we can all help clean up our habitat. The town of Long Beach actually has neighborhood mixers to help keep the beaches pristine. You will not see one tourist or local get away with littering on the beach there!
Volunteer Gardening
Volunteer at a community garden or help to install one. There are several grants and state funding programs for installing a community garden as part of New York’s Green Living initiative. For those who want to help an existing plot, the 1,400-square-foot community garden at Franklin Arthur Farms in Smithtown is a great place to start. Owned and managed by the Smithtown Historical Society, the garden serves to provide organic produce to local food pantries and offers educational programs about agriculture to our school district, scout troops and other environmentally concerned advocates. Volunteering at a community garden like Arthur Farms also helps to give back to our neighbors in need of assistance as well.
DIY Upcycle Crafts and Projects
Reinventing something rather than tossing into the garbage is fun, creative and makes a fantastic lesson to pass along to your children. Trashing old tires make a terrible impact on the ozone layer and after this winter, there’s plenty of tires laying around. Try painting the tire and upcycle it into a cute planter or make a tire swing. If you have the time and patience, turn an old tire into an ottoman by wrapping it with Natural Jute Twine, using waterproof epoxy for glue. Upcycle leftover construction materials like PVC pipe by cutting 10-12 inch pieces and use as shoe holders. This also doubles as a kitchen wine rack with just a little paint. For endless upcycle ideas, check out pinterest