Old North News

City of Asheville issued the following announcement on April 21.

You may be staying home this Earth Day, but there’s still action you can take to honor and support Planet Earth April 22 — and every other day of the year.

Emphasis on the word “action.”

That’s the message from EarthDay.org, which lists tons of ways you can advocate for Mother Earth from the safety of your pandemic-protected home this 50th anniversary of the observance.

On April 22, EarthDay.org is going digital and inviting the whole planet to join them for 24 hours of action. The site can lead you to online teach-ins, voter awareness information that supports the environment and a daily challenge that guides everyday people toward how to compost creatively, become a citizen scientist or do an at-home plastic audit.

A local resource is available too, WNC for the Planet. Here you can learn about local initiatives and how to lend a hand to them, such as restoring native plant and animal habitats, or clearing and fortifying hiking trails in our forests and parks.

Butterflies feast on milkweed, a common pollinator plant.

People sequestered at home for the protection of our community might consider actions they can take such as:

• Planting a tree (or trees).
• Installing pollinator plants. Find a recommended list at this link.
• Beginning a composting project.

“Now is a time of reflection, an opportunity to think about others impacted by the pandemic and how you can take time during social distancing to make small, incremental changes that have a lasting effect on others and our environment,” said Asheville Chief Sustainability Officer Amber Weaver.

The City of Asheville is working to support environmentally impactful efforts to reduce greenhouse gas. Through its 100% Renewable Energy Initiative in partnership with Buncombe County your local government is identifying projects that reduce the City’s municipal carbon footprint and are economically responsible, socially just and technologically feasible. It’s a big lift and one the City’s Sustainability Office is working to achieve by 2042. Find out more about it at this link.

The Sustainability Office also created an Asheville Climate Resiliency Resource Guide trained on local topics such as how to protect your property from floods or fire. The goal of the guide is to help residents and businesses become more resilient, or better prepared for impacts of extreme weather events, through adaptive capacity.

Find out more about these and other initiatives, such as community gardens, by visiting the Office of Sustainability’s webpage.

“In honor of Mother Earth, take a moment to commit to one task that helps to improve our environment; together our actions will be most impactful,” said Weaver.

Original source can be found here.