The team at Vireo shares how we are celebrating Earth Day this year, with contributions from the team: Jo Anne Shatkin, James Ede, Kimberly Ong, Megan Roberts, Shaun Clancy, Jerry Liu, Ana Diges, Patricia Hodgkinson, and Leslie Hockman.

Jo Anne:

This year I am celebrating Earth Day and renewing my commitment to improving the economy, aligning it with health and environment. Our work at Vireo brings safer and more sustainable products to the world, integrating innovation with safety. Earth Day has greatly influenced my life, having spent my career working to reduce pollution and improve our economy with less impact on our health and our environment. Being outdoors and enjoying natural beauty is both a source of inspiration, and a deep well of life lessons. Unexpected things happen all the time, like a freak snowstorm that freezes the budding cherry blossoms, or 93 mile per hour winds drive trees into rooftops and destroying nests. Losses result, and rebirth returns, bringing new surprises. The global pandemic has taken so much from so many, transformed society globally, but has given many of us a pause from the busy lives we rushed through. And through it, nature has been such a gift, to see more wildlife, hear more birds, and have time for a little more fresh air. So this Earth Day, I am celebrating the resiliency of nature and the reemergence of life, not as expected, but as it can be. This redoubles my commitment to bringing nature’s wisdom to our economy.

James:

Every year, our household takes Earth Day as an opportunity to reflect on our lifestyle choices and the impacts they have on the Earth. This retrospection allows us to evaluate the kinds of changes we can make to our day-to-day living to reduce our carbon footprint and introduce more sustainable choices. In past years, this has included introducing bi-weekly ‘meat-free days’ (one of the most impactful changes you can make to lower your carbon foot print!) and setting up a composting system to reduce our household waste. Excited to see what changes we will make this year towards a healthier and more sustainable future.

Kim:

One of the (few) silver linings of this past year has been that many have had the chance to re-connect with the lands around them. First - I would like to respectfully acknowledge that I am on the treaty and traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg. I am lucky to be surrounded by beautiful forested land, lakes, and also communities and neighbours who share their green spaces, and I have had a lot of time over the past year to explore, learn, and discover! In addition to getting to observe the wild animals around me everyday, I’m also appreciative of the bounty the lands have provided (maple syrup, wild leeks, mushrooms, fish, deer and more!)

I also want to share a great podcast – when I’m not working or outside (and sometimes during!), I listen to a lot of podcasts (at 1.25x speed…you can thank me later). “How to Save a Planet” is a great podcast that also shares doable calls to action and resources to learn more about the devastating effects of climate change.

Megan:

Earth Day arrives every year during a time when my overactive, crazy mind is getting the better of me. Yoga is a tool that I use on April 22, not just to reconnect to the Earth, but to assist me in creating harmony and balance! A yoga practice with a focus on grounding the body to its roots, creates calm, destroys stress, and encourages our attention to recognize the Earth that supports us. When we are grounded, it is easier to consider what the future will hold, and what we can do to ensure Mama Earth gets good care! Many Yoga Studios are still closed, but there are still online resources available for practice. Maybe give following this video a try on Earth Day 2021:

Namaste!

Shaun:

I’m old enough to remember the first Earth Day. I was in grade school and our class made a trip to one of our town’s beaches on Lake Erie to do some clean-up activities. I remember being struck by the quantity of garbage we collected. Of course, there were many big pieces of trash that we could see such as paper cups, cans and bottles. But the amount of small, less obvious pieces of trash buried in the sand such as cigarette butts, pull tabs (back when there were pull tabs!), bottle caps and the like was impressive, in a disappointing way. We collected a lot! I believe we have much better environmental practices today which is great. But we still have opportunities to do better and need to recognize the importance of managing what we can see but also what is not obvious. As I observe Earth Day 2021 I will be continuing to do my part to help with both types of environmental impacts.

Jerry:

April 22nd is the time we celebrate the earth day to combat the climate change. It’s also the time of the year to tune up bicycles for the season! Living in the suburbs and working in the city, I have been cycling for commuting and exercise for 5 years. I appreciate the physical and mental benefits of cycling. Taking a good bike ride through the nature can be one of the most liberating feelings. More importantly, cycling has a carbon footprint far less than the emissions of driving! Why not hop on a bike to join me on the earth day celebration? Ding! Ding!

Ana:

As the final semester of my undergraduate education at UW-Madison comes to an end, I am finally taking part in the Nelson Institute Earth Day event taking place on the 23rd and 24th of April. This celebration has a special tie to Wisconsin and to my university: the Institute was renamed after former governor and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s conference is free and mostly remote. I plan to attend several talks on environmental justice, one of the great motivators for my studies in engineering and health. My hope over the next year is to bring together the knowledge of events such as the Earth Day conference as well as my studies so far to contribute to practical sustainable development. From teaching my roommates how to make tastier tofu (instead of steak!), to speaking to your local representatives, there are many ways we can all build a more sustainable future over the next twelve months!

Trish:

This Earth Day I have made a modest investment in a fund which is focused on companies that stand to benefit from the accelerating transition to more sustainable food production systems and consumption patterns and thereby safeguarding our nature and eco systems promoting transparency and safety and encouraging mindful consumption in order to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Leslie:

In celebration of Earth Day 2021, I am reflecting on the things my family currently does to reduce the negative impact we have on our Earth. This includes shopping for thrifted clothes to shrink our carbon footprint, reusing glass, plastic, and paper products when possible, reducing the frequency of mowing our lawn to allow the grass and wildflowers to grow for pollinators, attempting to avoid food waste and, when that is not possible, feeding leftover food to our livestock. We also strive to teach our child about the importance of not littering and how trash harms the environment. This year, we have added bat houses and bird feeders to our yard and are looking into the process of composting.