We All Need to Be Activists and Volunteers
Did you know that Earth Day — April 22nd — happens during National Volunteer Month? There is a direct correlation between taking care of the environment and showing up for communities and causes that need help. Climate problems are connected with inequality, hunger, poverty, pollution, and other societal challenges that require our awareness and engagement.
Honoring nature, thinking of the communities in need, and discussing the ways all of us can be of support through our time, energy, efforts, and generosity is a valuable conversation to have with our families, friends, and the communities we live in.
In Norway, we have a tradition called “dugnad” which is centered around volunteering, helping, supporting the community, and giving back. Traditionally, it can involve clean-ups, gardening, communal labor, raising money, and support for local, national, and international causes.
In the context of 2022, in particular, we recognize several key areas that need the help of volunteers:
Helping the environment
The most recent IPCC report made it clear that it all depends on human action to stop the rise of carbon emissions. The environment needs us to get active, involved, and responsible in our daily lives. Numerous organizations all around the globe are dedicated to fighting the different negative effects of climate change on nature. Whether that is cleaning up beaches, riverbanks, parks, and forests, planting more trees and plants, restoring bird and bee habitats, eliminating plastics, or composting on a daily basis—the options are various. You can connect with the organizations that need help in your area by visiting Volunteer Match or through similar volunteering connectors.
At Kvaroy Arctic, we support the environment through sustainable and respectful aquaculture practices that honor the oceans, their health and biodiversity.
Helping different communities to fight hunger
We throw away between 30% and 40% of the available food in the US, while people suffer from food inequality. Preserving food, sharing it, and making the most of it might be what your local community needs or what you can do for faraway communities.
Our trusted partners in this mission are the inspiring people at World Central Kitchen, a frontline organization that provides meals to people affected by humanitarian, climate, and community crises. They build resilient food systems with locally led solutions. For example, currently they are providing more than 300,000 meals daily in Ukraine. We partner with WCK to support the growth and development of other sustainable water farmers around the world, including Coral Vita and Tilapia de la Faja.
Protecting the world’s waters
We support all meaningful causes related to water preservation and wastewater treatment. Each of us can take an active role in protecting our local drinking water sources from contamination. Taking care of water is also a way of preserving ecosystems that depend on it. You can learn a lot about how to become a volunteer who protects water on the US Environmental Protection Agency’s website.
Also, you can immediately turn into a water protection warrior at home by adopting sustainable practices that preserve water, such as:
Collecting rainwater for watering plants
Conscious water consumption during dish-washing, teeth-brushing, showering, and bathing
Not throwing away trash in water drains
Using eco-friendly detergents at home that do not poison the local water reservoirs and the soil
Researching ways to be more careful with your laundry to decrease and eliminate the amount of microplastics that enter the oceans
The things we can all do from the comfort of our homes are incredibly varied and fruitful for the world’s nature, water, and climate health.
We are more than happy to witness such a big interest in Earth Day 2022 and the National Volunteer Month 2022! But we hope that this proactive enthusiasm will stay with all of us for longer—protecting our earth and being engaged in volunteerism benefit us all year-round. More than ever, we need to focus on solving world climate problems that are already a reality in different places around the world.
The biggest takeaway we have for you is that everyone can be a volunteer on a daily basis by changing what we do in our homes and backyards, shifting our mindset to an Earth-protective mode, and by spreading this positive vibe with others. If you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to start from, consider having a look at these incredible climate resources provided by Drawdown Project—the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming.
Last, but not least, becoming socially pro-active and engaged benefits not only the cause that is being served, but also contributes to the mental health and efficacy of volunteers themselves.
That being said, please don’t forget to involve the children in your life too! Volunteering has incredible benefits for raising the next generation.
