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Earth Day 2013
In Canada, we celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd. Some places celebrate Earth Day in March, and that's cool too. Whenever you celebrate, it's a great holiday and a wonderful opportunity to think about our planet. At least until there is a cat in charge of the space program, and we find funding for our plan of stocking the moon with mice, we're going to have to keep earth in good working condition.
Paws for Earth Challenge
For Earth Day 2013 we are carefully considering how we can reduce our carbon footprint. Sure, we don't own cars or factories, but there are still a great many environmental issues associated with products we cats use, and things we consume. Our cat litter comes from far away, it's manufactured, shipped, distributed, warehoused, shipped again and that's all before the human buys it and brings it home for us. The human tries to buy us food that is made locally, but we're fussy eaters and that doesn't always work out very well.
So while we work on our personal carbon footprint reduction, we would like to share this challenge to cats everywhere - these are some small ideas that could make good things happen for the planet if everyone tried them out.
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Plant Something
It would be lovely to plant a tree of your very own, but sometimes it's hard to find space for that. You can start small - sprout the seeds from a lemon, or a pine cone, and see if you can get a tiny tree started indoors. If your human is feeling ambitious start a vegetable garden, or a window herb-box. Or ask your human to grow you a pot of cat grass or start some nip plants for you.
Paws for Earth Challenge 1: Big or small, start growing something for earth day this year.
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Recycle (or compost) Everything
Cats yield a lot of recycling - food bags, cans and pouches, litter bags, boxes or containers, toy packaging etc. We insist that our human recycle absolutely everything that comes into the household for us, except what we eat or play with. Some of our toys and scratchers (the kind made from corrugated cardboard) can be composted when we are done with them. So let's talk about litter... that's our big landfill issue, isn't it kitties - some of us send our own weight to landfill each month! Some kitties learn to accept a compostable cat litter, but we really like the clay stuff, so what's a cat to do? It's not biodegradable... but does it really need to go to landfill? Some municipalities accept it in compost, or garden waste, even though it's largely mineral. Find out what can be done in your area to keep cat litter out of landfill.
Paws for Earth Challenge 2: Find a way to reduce the cat related waste that goes to landfill
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Buy Locally
When your human buys you a toy made overseas, you burden your carbon-conscious with a trail of waste that might encircle the globe. Sure, you need new toys, but try to find ones made locally; you can support your local economy and avoid shipping things unnecessarily. The pet food industry has been plagued in recent years by controversies surrounding food ingredients imported from overseas, so considering locally sourced foods may have many advantages. Locate the closest cat-nip farm; it's important to support your local producers, and you can assure yourself the best quality nip supply too! Woo-hoo!
Paws for Earth Challenge 3: Find one thing you buy regularly that you can replace with a locally produced item
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Avoid Toxins
How can a cat avoid a world full of toxins? Talk with your human about the products they bring into your home. Household cleaners, cosmetics, hair & skin products; lots of 'people-stuff' contains toxic ingredients. They put gel in their hair, get it on their hand, pat your fur, then who has to lick it off, right? Even though your human will probably avoid eating cleaners and hand cream, it's still a good idea to know more about what toxins are in household 'people-stuff'... read more: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/issues/health/science/toxics/dirty-dozen-cosmetic-chemicals/, and http://www.womensvoices.org/about/roadmap/
Paws for Earth Challenge 4: Find one household product and one cosmetic product that you can eliminate or replace with a less toxic alternative
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Reduce your carbon footprint
Cats don't drive cars, crank up the heat/air-conditioning, take long hot showers or leave the lights on, so what can a cat to about the household carbon footprint? Sure you can remind your human about saving energy, but they'll still forget to turn the lights off. Try just one or two easy changes to help your household use less energy... Here are some tips to help you find something you can do this earth day: http://guelph.ca/living.cfm?itemid=78786
Paws for Earth Challenge 5: Find one way to increase the energy efficiency of your household
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Try the 2013 Paws for Earth Challenge
Yep, we're just cats, and it might seem like a lot to ask us to save the world... but earth needs our help
If each cat can coax their humans into taking just a few of the 5 steps in our Paws for Earth Challenge, then this time next year the world will be a tiny little bit cleaner and greener.
- Paws for Earth 1: Grow something for earth day this year
- Paws for Earth 2: Find a way to reduce the cat related waste that goes to landfill
- Paws for Earth 3: Find one thing you buy regularly that you can replace with a locally produced item
- Paws for Earth 4: Eliminate or replace toxic household/cosmetic products with a less toxic alternative
- Paws for Earth 5: Find one way to increase the energy efficiency of your household
C'mon cats, try out the Paws for Earth Challenge! Let's show the planet some love for Earth Day 2013!
Puurrrsssssss
PS - if you want more ideas to inspire your human, and work towards a greener planet, check out our article here: Human! Clean up your mess
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Welcome to our Paws for Earth Challenge for Earth Day 2013
