My Vegan Mondays & 10 Things You Can Do for Earth Day

I can think of no other holiday better paired with Vegan Monday than Earth Day. I was in college when I became aware of Earth Day. I was always a tree hugger, a raging feminist at my conservative business school. To have one day of the year when other hippies came out, played frisbee in the quad, drank and danced in the sunshine, was a wonderful and affirming jolt to my system. 

I'm still mindful of my practices: my consumption, my connectivity to the earth, how I live and the choices I make. That's not to say I'm perfect or pious. There's so much more I can do. But I'm happy to support my environmental beliefs by not eating red meat, as I didn't today, and I try not to every Monday.

Morning
Coffee with soy milk
A mixture of granola and Cheerios with almond milk

Afternoon
Curried cauliflower wrap
A piece of Jacques Torres dark chocolate bark, courtesy of a generous colleague
A clementine

Evening
Lentil soup

Are you looking for a way to have a lesser impact on the earth on a regular basis? Here are 10 doable ideas:

1. Try Meatless Mondays. Or Vegan Monday. Or do as Mark Bittman does and eat vegan until dinner.
2. Use those strip sockets for your electronics and turn them off when you leave the room or apartment.
3. Opt for bars of soap instead of plastic containers.
4. Limit your use of water bottles.
5. Plant some herbs. Or a tree.
6. Walk or bike to work if you can. Even if it's just one day a week.
7. Go paperless for billing and banking.
8. Reuse your plastic takeout containers. They're as good as Tupperware! I use mine for freezing food, taking lunch to work, to organize pens and makeup in drawers, and more.
9. Walk or jog outside instead of on a treadmill. Again, maybe not all the time, but once in a while.
10. Stop and savor. Watch the sun set. Smell some flowers. Admire a tree's shape. The more connected you feel to the world, the more you're going to fight for it.