How to Care for the Earth

We’re facing a climate crisis. Temperatures are increasing at alarming rates, sea levels are rising, and weather-related catastrophes, including storms, floods and droughts, are becoming more prevalent. It’s a crisis that stems from centuries of human activity, and there is no time to wait — we need action.

How to Care for the Earth

At Heifer, caring for the Earth is not only part of our mission statement — it’s also integrated into all of our projects. We work with project families to ensure they care for their animals and crops in a way that is beneficial to the land. We do this by teaching farmers sustainable agricultural practices that help protect local ecosystems and biodiversity, conserve soil and water, and increase resilience and crop production — all while helping farmers reduce their carbon footprint.

Daily Tips for Saving the Earth

Ways To Save the Earth

Doing your part for the planet doesn’t have to be hard. In fact, you can make a big impact by making small changes in your everyday life.

Here are a few easy things you can do!

Recycle!
Use energy-efficient bulbs
Ditch paper towels and napkins
Switch to reusable grocery bags
Wash laundry in cold water instead of hot
Dry your laundry on a clothesline
Eat local

If you want to go even further, check out these ideas to help our planet this Earth Day.

1. Create a Windowsill Bee Garden

Think you can’t help save the bees because you don’t have access to a lawn? Think again! You can create a small haven for your local bees and spruce up the view from your window with just a few plants! It’s a quick, inexpensive way to help the bees — and the environment!

How to Make a Windowsill Bee Garden

2. Save Water — While Still Keeping Your Garden Green

Using discarded plastic bottles and a little ingenuity, students in drought-prone Tanzania have devised an earth-friendly method of irrigation to keep their saplings hydrated and thriving, even when summer rains are nowhere to be found. You can use the same method at home to repurpose the plastic bottles in your recycling bin and keep your garden green — and your water bill low — in the warmest weather.

Turn Off the Water Works with this Gardening Hack from Tanzania

3. Ditch Planting Grass (Here’s Why!)

Did you know that lawn grass is the most grown crop in the United States? Grass looks great, but it doesn’t have a lot of other redeeming qualities — it can’t be eaten, degrades soil quality and consumes large amounts of water. Instead of grass, consider cover crop alternatives like creeping thyme, chamomile or mint.

3 Lawn Alternatives That Will Save the Earth

4. Learn How to Go Green at Home

Going green can be expensive, but there are some sustainable designs you can bring into your home as your budget allows. By integrating solar energy, energy-efficient appliances, changes to your lawn and landscaping or local, sustainable or up-cycled materials, you can bring down your energy bill while reducing your impact on the planet.

How to Make Your Home a Green Building

5. Learn How to Save Energy

Cutting energy consumption is a worthy goal: it could save you a little money, it’s less wasteful and it reduces your strain on the environment. As it turns out, saving energy isn’t always intuitive, and there are a lot of unhelpful misconceptions floating about. But never fear, we’re here to start you down the right path.