Hard to believe that the first Earth Day occurred 39 years ago, back in 1970. Truth is, I wasn’t even aware of Earth Day until 1989. That was the first time I’d heard about the event. Since I was living in New York City at the time, I spent the entire day with tens of thousands of other New Yorkers in an Earth Day celebration in Central Park. It was kind of groovy–you know, for the 80s.

With Earth Day right around the corner (it’s April 22nd, in case you don’t know), I thought I’d share these 10 tips on how you can make a difference today, tomorrow, and every day, courtesy of RecycleBank and Burt’s Bees. I realize that you’ve probably heard many, if not all, of these tips before, but they do bear repeating.

1. Recycle: This Earth Day, take a good hard look at your trash, and make sure you’re recycling as much as possible. Don’t forget about e-Waste like cell phones, MP3’s and laptops–they can all be recycled and repurposed, via retailers or household hazardous waste collection events in your community. I happen to know that RecycleBank rewards people for recycling by giving them gift certificates to local businesses. If your trash carrier doesn’t currently work with RecycleBank, why not ask them to look into it?
2. Freecycle (TM): I don’t have to tell you about my love for Freecycle or what I consider to be Freecycle etiquette. If you haven’t yet given Freecycle a try, why not do so in time for Earth Day?
3. Reuse. Leave behind paper plates, plastic forks and any other disposables. Choose reusable serving pieces instead. Also, figure out ways you can reuse items around the house like toilet paper rolls or rubber bands so you can keep them out of the trash.
4. Wallet Activism: Look for products made from recycled materials, natural ingredients, and minimal or biodegradable packaging. Burt’s Bees, for example, uses recyclable packaging. By supporting eco-friendly companies your green supports the greater green. (Checkout this story I wrote for Continental Magazine for more on what to look for in earth-friendly packaging.)
5. Park It: Celebrate the beauty of spring with a walk when you could have driven. Carpool, take public transport, ride your bike. If you can’t do it every day, try once a week. When you do drive, make sure you pump up your tires so you can deflate your fill-ups.
6. Junk It: Putting the kibosh on junk mail and catalogues will save you time, save landfill space and save millions of trees. Use services like Catalog Choice to opt out of receiving catalogs in the mail. For more advice on reducing unwanted mail, check out this article from Centsable Momma.
7. Bills. Bills. Bills. Try to go paperless for your banking, bill paying and at the ATM.
8. Live Life Locally: Support your local farmers while enjoying fresh produce and organically grown goodies. Visit a website like Local Harvest to find local farm stands and farmers’ markets near you.
9. Say Y-E-S to CFL’s: You’ll save time, money and energy by swapping regular, incandescent light bulbs for the compact fluorescent kind.
10. Spread the Word: Tell your friends how easy it is to shave off some carbon here, save some resources there and conserve a little energy here. And then they can tell their friends. And then they can tell their friends…

Look for me on television next Tuesday, April 14th. I’ll be doing an early Earth Day satellite media tour to discuss green-living tips. I’ll try to post the station lineup the day before.