earth day is everyday - 4 tips for loving earth

While it may sound cliché, at Terra we truly believe Earth day is everyday! Heck, our name literally translates to EARTH in Portuguese and Italian. While we are all at home during this COVID-19 Quarantine, we wanted to give you 4 tips to help you love our Earth everyday.  

1. Go outside for vitamin D aka Vitamin Sunshine or just to get fresh air for at least 15 minutes each day. The reality is that it is very hard to appreciate what you do not see, and while staying in bed and binging the latest GOOP episodes on Netflix sounds great (because it is great), staying inside can actually make us forget about the beautiful world we have OUTSIDE. Force yourself to go outside. You can go from a stroll in the morning, evening or even during your #WFH lunch break. While you are outside, purposely take deep breathes of fresh air and intentionally live in the moment of being present and connect yourself with Earth. 

2. Replace one plastic/ disposable item in two-to-three daily rituals you take in life. I know this sounds daunting, but it is actually much easier than you may think. The way I approached this was by focusing on my daily activities and replacing one plastic / disposable ritual in a few categories (and growing it each month). Here are a few examples:

• Breakfast: For me, I easily replaced my daily disposable coffee cups with a reusable, stainless steel travel coffee mug. When I do go to Starbucks, I give them my cup to use. I also use this mug at the office and for water throughout the day. At first I kept forgetting my mug, but today it is part of my daily rituals and I never want to leave the house without it!
• Beauty routine: I replaced conventional facial masks with our Terra Beauty Bars DIY Dry Masks - specifically Matcha Sea Dry Mask, which is perfect for my combination skin. Not only do dry masks pack a more powerful punch in raw earth botanical ingredient benefits (since you do not need preservatives or fillers), but you can perfectly use the right amount of mask without waste, each and every time. What most people do not realize is that there is so much waste in beauty products throughout the USA. Wether it is in manufacturing or actually using it at home, people can stop wasting ingredients and help produce / use for what we actually need. All you need to do is add your favorite liquid to 1-2 teaspoons of dry mask powder in your favorite reusable bowl, mix and use as needed each week. You can also change up ingredients based on your little heart's desire (actually, skin's desire). While the options of mask mixing are endless, the Matcha Sea Dry Mask is housed in a beautiful 2oz amber glass jar. Once your product is empty you can repurpose the glass jar. You can use it to mix masks in the future, as a beautiful catch all / ring bowl, to plant flower or use as candle holder or to simply recycle at your local recycle facility. 

3. Participate or create your own pick up trash day! There are so many Beach Clean Up Day's or programs you can participate in just by contacting your local government / city hall. There are even Facebook Groups for these entities that can provide you with info. However, you do not need to wait to join a program. The best thing to do would be to walk around your neighborhood with a trash bag and carefully (with gloves and proper protective gear), pick up obvious trash. While you may not get to everything or even make a dent in your area that day, continuing this act will surely pay off. Not only will you influence others around you, but you will be physically and spiritually show earth how much you love it! Because we take care of the people and things we love.

4. Repurpose, Reuse, Re-love. While this sounds like a perfect marketing ploy, it really is the essence of Earth Day. Look around your house or room right now. Do you have something, yes maybe even plastic, that can have a second, third or infinite shelf life? For example, when my daughter's were toddlers I saved their disposable food jars and today I use them to house needles and threads and other crafting trinkets. I use old laundry buckets to plant flowers outside (after our girls paint them) or store coins or crayons for the girls. The point of this is that almost everything can be repurposed, reused and, yes, re-loved. Make an intentional effort to repurpose, reuse or re-love something. And if you have loved the item many lifetimes, then donate it, because love can happen again and again.