This year Earth Day marks a couple of milestone birthdays: 40 years since the original US Earth Day in 1970 and 20 years since the first International Earth Day in 1990. Organized as a series of teach-ins by a small group of educators and environmentalists, the 1970 Earth Day was envisioned as a grass-roots response to the environmental crisis of the day, inspired by the impact of and lack of government action in response to an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara CA. Planners aspired to attract crowds as large and passionate as those protesting the war then being waged in Viet Nam to make themselves heard on the issue of the environment. From their actions, 20 million demonstrators observed the first Earth Day and urged leaders and citizens to make the changes necessary to preserve the health of the planet. Since that time Earth Day has grown to become an international event, marked in 141 different countries in 1990 to where it is today, about to be celebrated by a billion people in over 190 countries and coinciding with the World People’s Conference on Climate Change.

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Easter, like many other holidays, has become more and more commercial over the years. Gone are the days where time was spent with family enjoying each others company over a big meal. There are, however, many ways to enjoy an eco-friendly Easter. With a little bit of research and some creativity, there are many options to choose from!

Colouring eggs

An age old tradition that kids love! Before you go out and buy a traditional decorating kit, try and use natural dyes. You’d be surprised by your colour options and impressed with the end results. To create the dye, boil the ingredient in water for about 15 minutes. Remember, the longer you boil it, the darker the dye will appear. As for the eggs, boil them in water with a spoonful of vinegar and then let them cool.

Your ingredients could be any of the following:

• Grape juice (for violet or purple)
• Red cabbage or canned blueberries (for blue)
• Spinach (for green)
• Carrot tops, yellow onion skins or paprika (for orange)
• Coffee (for brown)
• Red beets or cranberries (for pink)
• Red onion skins or Pomegranate juice (for red)
• Orange or lemon peels, ground tumeric or cumin (for yellow)

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