Overview
Earth Day is a day on which events are held worldwide to increase awareness and appreciation of the Earth’s natural environment. Earth Day is planned for April 22 in all years at least through 2015.
Use this holiday to connect with your customers and showcase how you are giving back to Mother Earth – in ways big or small.
Details
Originally, Earth Day was celebrated on the day of the Spring Equinox (or, First Day of Spring). However, in 1970, Senator Gaylord Nelson (WI) called for an “environmental teach-in” or Earth Day to be held on April 22 after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. Over 20 million people participated that year.
Trivia
- Yellowstone National Park was the world’s first national park, and was founded in 1872.
- Recycling 1 aluminum can saves enough energy to watch a TV for 3 hours.
- If every newspaper was recycled, we could save 250 million trees a year. Only 27% of all American newspapers are recycled.
Celebrating Suggestions
- Earth Day can be celebrated year round by offering your customers recycled utensils for use with their take-out meals, and recycling bins for their waste.
- Do some research to see what Earth Day events are happening in your community and see how your business can get involved. Can you be a sponsor? Can you donate goods or services? Can you set up shop and sample to participants?
- If you can’t participate in community events, you can offer a discount to customers that visit after the events, as long as they have their t-shirt or pass from the event. Think: community clean-ups, run/walks, other volunteer opportunities, etc.
- Showcase your environmentally-friendly or natural / organic products for your customers. If you don’t carry these types of products, what about showcasing locally-made or American-made products?
- On or around Earth Day, volunteer with your staff to help clean up an area of your city.
- Give your customers seeds for herbs or plants at checkout – what a fun (and inexpensive) give-away!
- One step up from seeds – give your customers baby saplings so that they can plant their own trees!
- Share “green” facts with your customers for the week leading up to Earth Day. You can post these facts on your Facebook or Twitter pages, or post them by the cash register for customers to see.
- If you own a coffee shop, offer a free cup of coffee to customers using their reusable coffee cups on Earth Day!
- Hand out free reusable shopping bags to your customers to help eliminate plastic or paper bag waste!
For more information on how to volunteer with your staff, see Clean Up: Lake, River, Beach and Clean Up: Park.
Don’t forget to check out 10 Easy Ways For Your Business to Go Green(er)!
Check out our Marketing Holiday Calendar for more dates to celebrate!
