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We hope that you enjoy the resources collated here. As you take action on Earth Day and beyond, share on social media and hashtag so we can inspire each other...
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For Earth Day 2022, we need to act (boldly), innovate (broadly), and implement (equitably). It’s going to take all of us. All in. Businesses, governments, and citizens — everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable. A partnership for the planet

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Everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable
#InvestInOurPlanet
The theme for Earth Day 2022 is "Invest in Our Planet." Earth Day 2022 is focused on accelerating solutions to combat our greatest threat, climate change, and to activate everyone - governments, citizens, and businesses - to do their part. Everyone accounted for, and everyone accountable.

Invest in Our Planet is focused on engaging the more than 1 billion people, governments, institutions, and businesses who participate in Earth Day to recognize our collective responsibility and to help accelerate the transition to an equitable, prosperous green economy for all. The goal of EDO's campaign is to push aside the barriers erected by the ancient, dirty fossil fuel economy and their co-conspirators - old technologies of centuries past - and redirect attention to creating a 21st century economy that brings back the health of our planet, protects our species, and provides opportunities for all. EARTHDAY.ORG's campaign is focused on reframing the conversation, accelerating action, and bringing us together to understand that this is within our reach if we work together.
Invest In Our Planet. What Will You Do?
Learn about our campaigns, use our volunteer toolkits, and find resources to get involved in the sections below.

For more information on Earth Day 2022, the official theme, updates, and how to get involved, please visit: https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2022/

To find Invest In Our Planet Logos, click here.

To find Invest In Our Planet Graphics, click here.
Get Involved with Earth Day Every Day
More than 1 billion people in 192 countries now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. Today, we invite you to be a part of Earth Day and to help further climate action across the globe.

Every year, EARTHDAY.ORG coordinates events around the world to showcase global support for the environmental movement. Hold an Earth Day event and register it with us to be a part of the worldwide celebration of Earth Day.
Register your event here
Are you part of an organization that is planning something for the next Earth Day? Partner with us today and work TOGETHER to support the movement. Then, use our toolkit to help plan your event!
THE CANOPY PROJECT™ THE GREAT GLOBAL CLEANUP™ VOTE EARTH CLIMATE LITERACY

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Earth Day 2022 Action Toolkit - Earth Day

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Learn how to get involved in Earth Day campaigns and environmental action every day with our volunteer toolkits and activist resources!

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Calculate your carbon footprint as a family. Consider what your lifestyles were like before COVID19, and now. How many Earth's does your lifestyle require? When is your Earth Overshoot Day? Followed up by suggestions for behavioural change that will reduce your footprint.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many planets does it take to support your lifestyle?
Try our new Footprint Calculator at www.footprintcalculator.org to find out your Ecological Footprint and personal Earth Overshoot Day and learn about solutions to help us all tread more lightly on the Earth.

Please see our Having trouble accessing our new Footprint calculator?
troubleshooting tips for more information.

Are you a student or educator using our calculator?
If so, please share your experience using the calculator by emailing media@footprintnetwork.org. We are collecting stories for a campaign for phase two of our mobile-friendly version of the calculator, which includes plans for an administrator platform for teachers.

Why are my results on your new calculator different from the previous calculator?
Our former calculator was several years old. Global Footprint Network updates its data and methodology every year. Our new calculator features our latest data and methodology and will be much easier to update each year.

The Calculator is currently available in Chinese, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. To create country-specific calculators, Global Footprint Network works with local partners to gather regional data on resource consumption. Global Footprint Network is inviting corporate, government, and NGO partners to help us add additional cities, countries and languages to our new calculator. Please Why can't I choose my country and language on your new calculator?
contact us if you would like more details.

Please see the More questions about your Footprint?
Footprint Calculator Frequently Asked Questions.

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Footprint Calculator - Measure your Impact - Global Footprint Network

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Use our Footprint calculator to find out what your biggest areas of resource consumption are and learn how to tread more lightly on the Earth.

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Singapore link here - this could be done virtually. Their Facebook page has lovely resources and books for children.  A short video below reminding us to be considerate when talking about Climate Change. How to get people on board...

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The Secret to Talking about Climate Change

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This is a powerful group with many ideas for action.

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Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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Great articles aimed at TEENS here.

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Get the latest on Green Dreams from Teen Vogue. Find articles, slideshows and more.

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Great articles aimed at teens her

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Look below for many ways that you can take action. And why not share the story of environmental actions you and your family are taking as part of our #UnitedWorldStories video series - more information (click here).

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'We are the weather' is now on Borrowbox - it's really powerful. Instructions for how to access the Borrowbox app is here.

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‘Travel’ and immerse yourself in nature, from your home.

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‘Travel’ and immerse yourself in nature, from your home.

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Top 10 virtual tours: see museums and the world without leaving home

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Stuck at home? You can still enjoy amazing sights and experiences

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Listen to Mr Rob Storey read out two provocative poems - be a changemaker. Kathleen O'Mara and Dhruv Chauhan.

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Music to Life, music for social change, cause music, protest movement, protest music, protest song, activist artist, social movement, air pollution, anti-nuc...

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Old but good - artists calling for change.

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As the world moves to cities, so does art. And just as art can inspire political action and resistance, so can the walls of the town become canvases for important street art messages. The street and graffiti art on this list is perfect for spreading words about environmentalism and climate change to a broader audience.

There's art for aesthetics, and there's art with meaning. Same goes for street art - some are just ugly and indecent doodles, while other graffiti drawings discuss pressing global issues. This street art uses simple slogans and provocative images to cover essential and inspiring ideas about global warming and social issues in ways that are easy to remember. Such a technique can inspire people to take action or at least remind them about important issues that they may have forgotten.

Scroll down below for our list of the most powerful messages left on city walls and pavements and prepare to be inspired for a change.

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64 Powerful Street Art Pieces That Tell The Uncomfortable Truth

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The graffiti and street art on this list is perfect for spreading messages about environmentalism and climate change to a wider audience. It uses simple slogans and provocative images to spread important and inspiring ideas in ways that are easy to remember.

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Fighting Climate Change with Dance | KQED Arts

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A dance performance and rising carbon dioxide emissions might seem to have little to do with one another. But choreographers may be able to influence climate action in unexpected ways. The physical, interpersonal nature of dance has the unique ability to transform people's understanding of the world around them. Movement can lay the foundation for a sense of connection with the earth.

"The problem is getting people to act on what they know," says Jill Sigman, director of New York City-based jill sigman/thinkdance. How, then, to mobilize that action through dance? Six choreographers tackling environmental issues share their approaches.

Davalois Fearon's
Consider Water asks audiences to grapple with the issue of water scarcity. Photo by Andrew Imaging, courtesy Fearon.

Davalois Fearon: Considering Water Scarcity

Jill Sigman hosts gatherings in huts made from scavenged materials. Photo by Vanessa Albury, courtesy Sigman.

Her family in the U.S. had already spent money bussing clean water to relatives in Jamaica when a conversation with the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations prompted Davalois Fearon to think about the big picture of water resources. As part of her work Consider Water, two dancers randomly distribute cups to audience members and a third pours water into some of the cups. The symbolism allows other audience members to glimpse what it feels like to be denied a resource, overlooked and ignored. Fearon usually convenes a post-show discussion with experts. "It's an opportunity for audience members who are suspicious, or who don't understand the issue, to engage head-on," she says.

Jody Sperling accompanied a scientific mission in the arctic. Photo by Pierre Coupel, courtesy Sperling.

Jill Sigman: Disrupting Disposability

Dancing Earth tackles issues like renewable energy. Photo by Paulo Tavares, courtesy Tangen.

Jill Sigman, whose The Hut Project involves building huts out of scavenged materials, creates spaces that disrupt people's expectations of disposability, reuse and value. "Our culture prizes new and shiny," she says. "We don't link age to richness, interest or complexity." After constructing a hut, Sigman hosts performances, conversations and gatherings in the space, extending the "lifespan" of previously discarded objects.

For
bend the even, Jennifer Monson danced on the Illinois prairie at dawn every day for a year. Photo by Ian Douglas, courtesy Monson

Jody Sperling: Inspired By Arctic Ice & Changing Winds

Lynn Neuman collects discarded plastic and incorporates it into her pieces. Photo by Barry Butterfield, courtesy Neuamn.

Jody Sperling's Bringing the Arctic Home, which premiered in 2015, wasinspired by her experience accompanying a scientific mission and dancing on Arctic ice."I felt charged by this very remote place," she says. "It gave me a strong sense of immediacy." Now, she's working on a project about changing wind patterns.

Jill Sigman asks how we can make performance not a consumer act. Photo by Rafael Gamo, courtesy Sigman.

Rulan Tangen: Showing That Renewable Is Practical

Instead of using performance to influence legislation, Rulan Tangen has chosen to address our American culture of disposability. "What's being called climate change is only one terrible symptom of a system that is based in inequity and lack of respect for all forms of life," says Tangen, a Santa Fe- and San Francisco-based choreographer and director of Dancing Earth. Tangen's company is currently working on Between Underground and Skyworld, which explores renewable energy from cultural, spiritual and practical viewpoints, including the eco-sustainable design of the production.

Jennifer Monson: Exploring Ecological Phenomena

Some choreographers have found that linking minute local disruptions to planet-wide events, and vice versa, can make a changing world feel more immediate. Jennifer Monson spent a year waking up before dawn to dance on the Illinois prairie in preparation for her 2018 work, bend the even. She has researched ecological phenomena, what she describes as a delicate transfer of energy across hemispheres, for the past two decades. "I pay attention to those subtle movements by dancing, not just by observing," she says. Cultivating this kind of embodied knowledge helped Monson think about climate change in terms of creativity and improvisation rather than fear.

Lynn Neuman: Showing How Quickly Plastic Amasses

Lynn Neuman, director of New York City-based Artichoke Dance, became preoccupied with single-use disposability after she started wondering about waste and who was responsible for it. For some of her performances, she has collected massive quantities of discarded plastics, like bags and six-pack rings, and invited community members to contribute their own. "There's a real aha moment when people see how quickly plastic amasses," she says. This hands-on, visual component gets people involved in Neuman's process, interrupting their habitual response to pollution. "Being engaged in a process, particularly a physical one, helps people to not ignore what they know," she says.

Beyond Panel Discussions, What Can We Do?

Expanding the notion of climate action beyond political lobbying, scientific research and consumer politics makes room for what dancers know best. "When I teach master classes, I ask people to tune in to the atmosphere of the studio," Sperling says. By linking their actions to the way they change the energy of the room, Sperling's students practice an embodied awareness that could help people better understand their impact on the planet.

Dancers can value and pay attention to multiple perspectives at once and are routinely asked to adapt, skills that are critical to addressing the cultural inertia around climate change.

That's not to say the dance world isn't actively contributing to climate change. Rehearsal spaces and theaters have massive heating and cooling costs. Dance fashion trends favor athletic gear sewn in sweatshops and shipped halfway around the world, while hectic rehearsal schedules make plastic-wrapped takeout look appealing.

"How," Sigman asks, "do we make performance not a consumer act?" For her, it means creating work that's about relationship-building rather than transaction.

Some choreographers, like Neuman, are focused on working with presenters and venues that will commit to some level of climate action. Others, like Tangen, who works with primarily Native artists, choose to build careful partnerships with like-minded people. For her,change can't happen without art. "Movement is a tool to embody the future," Tangen says. "We're not talking about it. We're enacting it."

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These Choreographers Are Using Dance To Fight For Climate Action

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A dance performance and rising carbon dioxide emissions might seem to have little to do with one another. But choreographers may be able to influence climate ac

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Street art to make you think.

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These artists have found creative ways to offer hope amid the COVID-19 crisis

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Artists around the world are adapting to shutdowns by swapping physical performance spaces for virtual ones.

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So many to choose from -  a few suggestions to start you off below.

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So many to choose from -  a few suggestions to start you off below.

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Check out parental controls by using Common Sense Media to ensure they are age appropriate for your family. Do you have suggestions? Post on social media and hashtag to share with our community.

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Common Sense Media: Age-Based Media Reviews for Families

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Common Sense Media is the leading source of entertainment and technology recommendations for families. Parents trust our expert reviews and objective advice.

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Zero Waste Challenge

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Most of us live busy lives and we want to live more sustainably, but we don't have time to devote to researching options and making drastic lifestyle changes.

This zero waste challenge takes it one step at a time.

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I've called it a War on Waste, because that's exactly what it is - You wont necessarily be zero waste at the end of it but you will have taken key steps that make a BIG difference.

War on Waste Challenge - Start here
Explains everything you need to know about starting the challenge

Tips and tricks to avoid the trash but not convenience

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Bathrooms can be a plastic mine field, here's how to fix it plus some helpful green beauty recipes

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40% of most household bins is food waste, but yours doesn't have to be - tips on organising, storing and making the most of food.

Kitchens are a huge source of trash. Here are great ways to get greener and less trashier one step at a time

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Simple swaps you can make in your weekly grocery shopping at the supermarket without spending a fortune

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DIYs and tips for cleaning your home naturally without polluting your home, landfill and waterways

Week 10 Wrapping up the War on Waste

Final Steps - celebrate your wins, do a bin audit, drop off your recyclables and keep going green

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Zero Waste Challenge | The Good Life with Amy French

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A Free online Zero Waste Challenge to reduce your waste and head toward plastic-free, low-tox living. Plenty of tips to get you started on a zero waste journey.

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Top tips from experts collated for you - thanks, Nat Geo.

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This story is part of Planet or Plastic?-our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge. Join a conversation with Kathryn Kellogg on zero waste on Reddit at 2 pm ET May 18.

Imagine 15 grocery bags filled with plastic trash piled up on every single yard of shoreline in the world. That's how much land-based plastic trash ended up in the world's oceans in just one year. The world generates at least 3.5 million tons of plastic and other solid waste a day, 10 times the amount a century ago, according to World Bank researchers. The U.S. is the king of trash, producing a world-leading 250 million tons a year-roughly 4.4 pounds of trash per person per day.

And yet there are a growing number of people-often young millennial women-who are part of a zero-waste movement. Their yearly trash output can be small enough to fit inside an eight-ounce mason jar. These are not wannabe hippies, but people embracing a modern minimalist lifestyle. They say it saves them money and time and enriches their lives.

Kathryn Kellogg is one of those young millennials who has downsized her trash pile-anything that hasn't been composted or recycled-so two years' worth literally fits inside one 16-ounce jar. Meanwhile, the average American produces 1,500 pounds of trash a year. (Learn more about Kellogg in the recent plastic issue of National Geographic magazine.)

"We also saved about $5,000 a year by purchasing fresh food instead of packaged, buying in bulk, and making our own products like cleaners and deodorant," says Kellogg, who lives with her husband in a small house in Vallejo, California.

Kellogg is one of several zero-waste bloggers who share online the details of their efforts, along with practical tips and encouragement, for others looking to embrace a zero-waste lifestyle. In three years, she has gained 300,000 monthly readers on her blog goingzerowaste.com and on Instagram.

"I think many people are ready to cut their waste," says Kellogg. However, she doesn't want people to fixate on trying to stuff all their trash into a jar. Zero-waste is really about trying to minimize your trash and making better choices in your life, she says. "Just do the best you can and buy less."

A Thriving Community

A breast cancer scare in college led Kellogg to start reading labels on personal-care products and finding ways to limit her exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. She found alternatives and started making her own products. Like her own readers, Kellogg learned from others, including New York City's Lauren Singer, who has the very popular Trash is for Tossers blog. Singer started reducing her waste footprint as an environmental studies student in 2012 and has turned zero-waste into a career as a speaker, consultant, and retailer. She has two stores dedicated to making trash-free living easier for everyone.

There's an active zero-waste community online sharing ideas, challenges, and support for those struggling with unhelpful friends and family who think it's weird to worry about trash. "There's a fear of being rejected when you try to do things differently," Kellogg says. "But it's not a radical act to clean up a kitchen spill with a cloth towel instead of a paper towel."

Many of the solutions to cutting waste use practices that were commonplace before the era of plastics and disposable products. Think cloth napkins and handkerchiefs, vinegar and water for cleaning, glass or stainless-steel containers for left-overs, cloth grocery bags. These, and similar old-school solutions, produce no waste and are cheaper in the long run.

Questioning What's Normal

Going zero-waste means questioning what's normal and thinking outside the box, Kellogg says. As one example, she mentions that she loves tortillas but hates making them. But as part of her zero-waste quest, she didn't want to buy packaged ones at the grocery. Eventually, she hit on the solution: buy a bunch of fresh-made ones from her local Mexican restaurant. The restaurant was even happy to put the tortillas in Kellogg's container because it saves them money.

"Many such solutions to waste are insanely simple," she says. "And any step to reduce waste is a step in the right direction."

Cincinnati's Rachel Felous took more than a few steps in January 2017 and cut her waste to one bag for the year. Felous was surprised and delighted with the impact it's had on her life.

"Going zero waste has been great," she says. "I found an amazing community, made new friends, and new opportunities have come my way," says Felous.

Although an environmentally aware nature lover, Felous hadn't really thought about how much waste she produced until she moved. That's when she realized how much stuff she'd accumulated, including a dozen half-used bottles of shampoo and conditioners. Not long after reading an article on zero-waste she vowed to take more responsibility for her own footprint. Felous also documents her struggles, challenges, and successes on Instagram during her quest to slash the trash.

By weight 75 to 80 percent of all household trash is organic matter that can be composted and turned into soil. As an apartment dweller, Felous deals with her organic waste by putting it in the freezer. Once a month, she takes her frozen lump to her parent's house, where a local farmer picks it up to feed animals or for composting. If the organic waste went to a landfill it likely wouldn't compost, because air can't circulate enough there.

Felous, who runs her own web design and photography business out of her home, advises others to approach zero waste with small steps and show themselves kindness. Making a lifestyle change is a journey, it doesn't happen overnight. But it's worth the effort, she says. "I don't know why I didn't start sooner."

A Regular Family

Shawn Williamson started ten years ago. While his neighbors in the suburbs outside of Toronto drag three or four bags of trash to the curb on cold winter nights, Williamson stays warm inside watching hockey on TV. Williamson, his wife, and daughter have taken just six bags of trash to the curb in those 10 years. "We live a very normal life. We've just eliminated waste," he says.

Contrary to what most people think, cutting out waste isn't a lot of work, he adds. "We buy in bulk to cut down on shopping trips, which saves us money and time," Williamson says.

The only unusual thing about their small, 20-year old house is the amount of shelving used to store bulk purchases of rice, flour, dried beans, nuts, toilet paper, and other products-enough to avoid going shopping for a month, he estimates. "It's not cluttered. I still park my car in the garage."

Williamson, a business consultant specializing in sustainability, says his goal is simply to be less wasteful in all aspects of life. "It's a mindset of looking for better ways of doing things. Once I figure it out there's little effort to maintain it," he says.

It helps that his community has a good recycling program for plastics, paper, and metals and he has room in his backyard for two small composters-one for summer and winter-that produce lots of rich earth for his garden. For everything else, he shops carefully to avoid waste and notes that throwing things out costs money: packaging pushes up the cost of the product, and then we pay for disposal of packaging in our taxes, he says.

Buying local makes it easier to buy foods and other products without packaging, from meat to soap. And when there is no choice, he leaves the packaging behind at the checkout counter. Stores can often reuse or recycle it, and leaving it sends a message: many customers don't want their avocados wrapped in plastic.

Even after ten years of slashing waste, new ideas still pop into Williamson's head. And here he means waste in the broader sense-not getting a second car that's parked 95 percent of the day, or shaving in the shower to save time. His advice: take a good look at what you might be wasting in your life. "If you eliminate it, you'll have a happier and more profitable life," he says.

Five Principles of Zero-waste From the Experts*

1. Refuse - refuse to buy things with lots of packaging

2. Reduce - don't buy things you don't really need

3. Reuse - repurpose worn out items, shop for used goods, and purchase reusable products like steel water bottles

4. Compost - up to 80 percent of waste by weight is organic. But this rarely decomposes in landfills

5. Recycle - It still takes some energy and resources to recycle, but it's better than sending stuff to the landfill or allowing it to become litter

*These are listed in order of importance

Editor's note: We corrected the spelling of Kathryn's name from an earlier version of this story.

This story is part of Women of Impact, a National Geographic project centered around women breaking barriers in their fields, changing their communities, and inspiring action. Join the conversation in our Facebook group.

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How Zero-Waste People Make Only a Jar of Trash a Year

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The growing zero-waste community is radically slashing their waste output, while living more fulfilling lives.

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To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22nd, Clean Water Action invites all parents and kids to join our Earth Day Design Contest!

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Get away from the screen and Inspire your neighbourhood.

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Make an Earth Day window sign - Earth Day

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Taking safe action in the lead-up to Earth Day 2020

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TheSmartLocal - Singapore's Leading Travel and Lifestyle Portal

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If you already have a few plants growing and want to take your gardening up a notch, try growing vegetables at home. These are staple ingredients that are great to have on hand and for most, you'll never need to buy them from a supermarket again once you start planting them.

From ginger to baby , here are easy vegetables and herbs to grow at home from scraps that would otherwise end up in the trash:

For more gardening and plant-related articles:

Spring onions

Image credit: Noob Cook

Spring onions are one of the easiest ways to start growing vegetables at home. Chop them up for salads, garnishes or even roast them whole for a robust side for chicken or steak. Because of how fast they grow, you'll probably end up with enough to give away.

What you'll need: Spring onions with roots, a bowl, a pot, soil and a spot with at least 6 hours of strong sunlight.

Time taken to grow: 5-7 days
To grow:

Cut the end of the spring onions, leaving around 3CM from the roots.

Place the ends in a bowl of water that should be changed daily. The water level should only be slightly above the roots.

After a few days, you'll see new green regrowth.

Once the spring onion has grown to about 10CM, you can plant it in soil and ensure that it's moist daily.

To harvest:

Snip off however much you need and they'll keep growing back.

Celery

Planting new celery re-growth in soil Image credit: Clarice Chua

When cooking with celery, people tend to just discard the ends, but you can turn the scraps into brand-new stalks which you can use in soups, juices or even just as is.

What you'll need: Celery with the root end, a bowl, a pot, soil, slow-release fertiliser, and a sunny spot that is shady during mid-day.

Time taken to grow: About 3 months
To grow:

Cut off the entire root base of the celery bunch, around 2CM from the bottom.

Stick the cutting into a bowl of water. The water level should only reach ⅓ of the celery.

Change the water everyday and replant in soil once new shoots appear in about 3-5 days.

Plant the celery in a mix of soil and slow-release fertiliser. Only the new shoots should be above the soil.

Water everyday and ensure soil is damp, not wet.

To harvest:

The celery stalks should at least be 15CM in height before you harvest.

If the outer stalks are ready before the inner ones, you can pluck those off first.

If the whole plant is ready, take the simpler route by uprooting the whole thing before starting the process again for a new plant.

Garlic

Plant pointy-side up Image credit: podgardening

A staple in all households, garlic is versatile and used in many different cuisines. Besides using it in stir-fries, make your own garlic butter and garlic oil to flavour dishes with. All you need to get started is a single clove.

Pro tip: Use fatter cloves as it will result in larger bulbs growing.

What you'll need: One or a few cloves of garlic, a pot, soil, slow-release fertiliser, and a spot with at least 6 hours of strong sunlight.

Time taken to grow: 6 months
To grow:

Plant garlic cloves pointed-end up and blunt-end down in soil.

Water daily, ensuring soil is moist. Fertilise when leaves start to grow.

When stalks start to grow, cut them off to ensure that the nutrients go to the growing bulb.

When the plant stops producing leaves, stop watering as the dry soil will help the bulbs last longer after harvest.

To harvest:
Ginger

Ginger with buds cut into small pieces for planting Image credit: Clifford Manthey

You've probably heard your mum or grandma say that ginger is a "warm" food. What this means is that it can help to revitalise, reduce bloating and fight colds. Make comforting ginger tea or steam fish with ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil for an easy dinner protein.

What you'll need: A ginger with a few budding eyes, a bowl, a pot, soil, slow-release fertiliser, an area with filtered sunlight.

Time taken to grow: 8-10 months
To grow:

Soak the ginger in a bowl of water overnight to remove any growth inhibitors that may have been sprayed on it.

Cut the ginger into about 2CM pieces with 1-2 eyes on each. Each piece of ginger will produce one plant.

Plant the pieces bud-side up in a mixture of soil and slow-release fertiliser and water daily, ensuring soil is moist.

To harvest:
Lady's Finger

Image credit: Nature Bring

Lady's finger is a subjective veggie - you either hate it or love it. Well, for those who want more of it, you can actually grow your own at home. Also known as okra, this hardy vegetable goes well with strong flavours like curries and sambal since it's quite bland on its own.

What you'll need: Lady's finger seeds, a wide pot at least 25CM deep, soil, slow-release fertiliser, a spot with 5-6 hours of direct sunlight.

Time taken to germinate: 4-5 days

Time taken to grow: 55-65 days
To grow: To harvest:

Harvest when the lady's fingers are still tender, if not they'll become too fibrous. A good estimation is when they grow to about 7-12CM long.

Kailan

Image credit: Fusian Living

We're all super familiar with this dark green leafy vegetable - almost all places have a stir-fried dish on their menu.

What you'll need: seeds, a pot, soil, slow-release fertiliser, and a spot with 5-6 hours of strong sunlight.

Time taken to germinate: 10-15 days

Time taken to grow: 60-70 days
To grow: To harvest:
Baby Bok Choy

Baby bok choy at around 30 days
Image credit:VeronicaFlavor

Smaller and sweeter than regular , baby is an easy vegetable to grow at home.

What you'll need: baby seeds, a pot, soil, slow-release fertiliser, a spot with at least 6 hours of sunlight

Time taken to germinate: about 5-7 days

Time taken to harvest: 40-45 days
To grow:

Plant seeds in a mixture of soil and slow-release fertiliser. Water daily to ensure soil is moist.
To harvest:

Harvest when the baby is about 15CM tall.

Cut the plant off, leaving about 2CM at the soil line, this should ensure re-sprouting and at least another harvest.

Lemongrass

Image credit: HGTV

A refreshing scent that's almost zingy, there's no other substitute for lemongrass. Make lemongrass tea, flavoured syrup for desserts, or flavour soup with it.

What you'll need: lemongrass stalks, a jar, a pot, slow-release fertiliser, and a spot with at least 5 hours of sunlight.

Time taken to grow: 4-6 months
To grow: To harvest:

Harvest when the stalk reaches around 30CM and don't uproot the plant, just cut off what you need.

Try growing vegetables at home

Growing vegetables at home to cook brings a whole 'nother level of satisfaction than buying store-bought. Not only can you save money if growing from scraps, but you also don't have to worry about pesticides as well.

Originally published on 13h April 2020. Last updated by Ra Krishnan on 20th May 2021.

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8 Supermarket Vegetables You Can Plant & Grow At Home To Be Self-Sustainable In 2021

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Growing vegetables at home is more satisfying than buying store-bought. From garlic to kailan, here are 8 easy veggies you can grow at home.

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Now that you can choose your electricity retailer, you can choose one that cares for our environment and our future!

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A great resource. Lots to learn here. Check it out.

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Connect with nature from the comfort of your Home

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Always doing great work. Got time for a read? Want to get involved behind the scenes?

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By now, there is no doubt that climate change is an imminent threat and needs to be addressed. You may have heard of the IPCC report, the Paris Climate Agreement, the landmark COP meetings, Carbon Offsets, and Carbon Capture. In a world requiring urgent climate action, we see the need to decode the ubiquitous term known as "Net Zero". This is Part 1 of a two-part series. The concept of Net Zero emissions or Net ...[Read more]

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Secondsguru | Green Living. Made Easy. - Secondsguru

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A social enterprise empowering communities towards greener living. We lead: Corporate workshops | Community projects | Zero waste bootcamps.

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Your consumption choices give you power for change.

Click here and here for how to take action - lots of ideas. Conscious consumption is within your control.

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The circular economy is a system where materials never become waste and nature is regenerated. In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in circulation through processes like maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, remanufacture, recycling, and composting. The circular economy tackles climate change and other global challenges, like biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution, by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources.

The circular economy is based on three principles, driven by design:

Underpinned by a transition to renewable energy renewable energy circular economy circular economy Energy derived from resources that are not depleted on timescales relevant to the economy, i.e. not geological timescales. and materials, the A systems solution framework that tackles global challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, waste, and pollution. It is based on three principles, driven by design: eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials (at their highest value), and regenerate nature. is a resilient system that is good for business, people, and the environment.

In our current economy, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste - the process is linear. In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste being produced in the first place.

We must transform every element of our take-make-waste system: how we manage resources, how we make and use products, and what we do with the materials afterwards. Only then can we create a thriving circular economy that can benefit everyone within the limits of our planet.

A way to transform our system

What will it take to transform our throwaway economy into one where waste is eliminated, resources are circulated, and nature is regenerated?

The circular economy gives us the tools to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together, while addressing important social needs.

It gives us the power to grow prosperity, jobs, and resilience while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and pollution.

How the circular economy works

Get the basics or explore the circular economy in detail.

Circular economy principles

A circular economy is based on three principles, all driven by design.

Circular economy examples

See the circular economy in action with these case studies from brands, businesses and policy makers.

Working with nature to make food last longer

Apeel is a company that has come up with an innovative way to eliminate single-use shrink wrap plastic packaging on fresh fruit and veg, while at the same time tackling food waste.

Apeel is a layer of edible, plant-based coating applied to fresh products that mimics and enhances the natural defences of fruit and vegetables. This slows down the two main things that cause spoilage - water loss and oxidation.

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Definition and principles of the circular economy model. Find out why it's much more than recycling and how companies are creating circular economy products.

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At 277 miles in length, 18 miles across at its widest, and a maximum 1,857 metres deep, this vast Arizona landmark is grand in nature as well as name. Around 40 sedimentary layers are visible in its steep cliffs, with the oldest basement rocks formed around two billion years ago. Hike the canyon's Bright Angel Trail via a Google Street View Trek. One of the most popular long-distance routes in the national park (9.3 miles), it zigzags up from the Colorado River to the south rim. Like with other entries in the list, wider exploration is on offer with Google Earth view, which lets users zoom in and out and click into points of interest - the peaks of Wontons Throne or Angels Window, for example - for further information. Another VR project, AirPano, has high-definition 360-degree images for a bird's eye view of the Red Rocks.

Mount Everest, Nepal

Known in Nepali as Sagarmatha and Tibetan as Chomolungma, the world's highest peak sits on the border between Nepal and China. Explore Everest's south base camp in Nepal, at an altitude of 5,380 metres, with interactive 360-degree views of snowy peaks and colourful prayer flags. Via an interactive map, and a 3D rotating viewer, you can gaze at the 8,848-metre summit, plus other Himalayan peaks stretching west into Pakistan and east to Bhutan. Clicking the human-shaped icon on this page highlights all the points around the mountain range that can be explored further at ground level. Views from other peaks, including over the Imja River and mountain villages, are visible in these 360 degree images. There's also shot of a busier south base camp - it sees about 35,000 visitors a year, after all.

The northern lights

The aurora borealis is a dazzling natural phenomenon caused by Earth's magnetic field interacting with electrically charged particles from the sun. The lights are visible from countries at high northern latitudes, such as those of Scandinavia, Russia, Iceland, Greenland and Canada. The Norwegian Lights over Lapland project takes travellers on a five-minute journey through a series of 360-degree videos. The virtual trip starts in the Icehotel in Abisko national park, northern Sweden, heads into the wilderness on a reindeer sleigh, passing Lake Torneträsk and an Arctic birch forest on the way to a cosy wooden Sami hut at the base of Mount Noulja. A series of time-lapse videos then show the lights dancing overhead in vibrant streaks and arcs of rippling green. There are 360-degree images with a view from elsewhere in the world, including Iceland, over the Goðafoss waterfall; in Yamal and on the shore of the Barents Sea in Russia; and in several locations around Norway. You could even be lucky enough to witness the lights live via webcam in Manitoba, Canada.

Hang Sơn Đoòng, Vietnam

The world's largest cave, Hang Sơn Đoòng in central Vietnam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park, was explored by scientists for the first time in 2009, after a local man, Ho Khanh, discovered it in 1991, but did not locate it again until many years later. Sơn Đoòng 360 is a project by National Geographic aiming to preserve the cave in digital form before it becomes subject to extensive tourism development. A trek - created from 360-degree images and atmospheric sound effects - heads through light-filled caverns, passing a 70 metre-tall stalagmite called Hand of Dog, and huge sinkhole jungles. Keep an eye out for members of the expedition crew, and take advantage of the high- definition images to zoom into details of the cave's geology, flora - and fauna, too, if you look hard enough.

Yosemite national park, USA

Yosemite, in California's Sierra Nevada mountains, is a diverse and spectacular natural landscape. It's home to more than 400 species of animals, including around 500 American black bears, rare snowshoe hares and endangered mastiff bats. Granite monoliths tower over meadows, rivers and forests, including one the park's most notable sights, El Capitan, standing over 900 metres tall with a near vertical cliff face. US climber Lynn Hill was the first person to free climb (without aid equipment) the challenging Nose route in 1993. Scale the mountain with Hill and her team, learning more about skills, techniques and equipment as you ascend to dizzying heights. The climbers jam their hands into "flakes" of rock and swing across the face to reach vertical cracks, stopping on a ledge, El Cap Tower, for the night. Explore the national park further with these 360-degree images, complete with sound effects, including sound Ahwahnee Meadow and Nevada Fall.

Zhāngjiājiè national forest park, China

The quartz-sandstone pillars of Zhāngjiājiè - pronounced jaang-jyaa-jie - were the inspiration for the floating peaks of the Hallelujah Mountains in James Cameron's Avatar film. Their unique shape is caused by physical erosion from water, ice and the roots of trees and foliage. Take flight around these towering natural columns - some stretching up over 1,000 metres - in an interactive video tour exploring the site, and zoom into high definition 360 degree shots from the sky. The park is also home to an ancient temple from 870AD, the cliffside Bailong glass elevator, and the world's highest and longest glass bridge, strung between mountains 300 metres up, and a busy tourist spot - though seen in these 360-degree images with fewer crowds.

Giants Causeway, Northern Ireland

This fantastical section of County Antrim's Atlantic coastline is made up of more than 40,000 interlocking, geometric (mostly hexagonal) basalt columns. Legend has it that the unusual rock formations are the remains of a stepping-stone causeway path to Scotland, built by giants. Scientists believe they were in fact formed by lava flowing into the sea, as molten basalt erupted through chalk beds 50 to 60 million years ago. The National Trust has created a series of virtual tours, with views from Aird Snout headland and by the water's edge in the bay of Port Noffer at different times of day. There are also sweeping views from above to explore elsewhere, including the Carrick A Rede trail and rope bridge.

Perito Moreno glacier, Argentinian Patagonia

Despite the climate crisis causing many of the Earth's glaciers to shrink, the defiant Perito Moreno remains largely undiminished; if anything, scientists say it's growing. Covering 97 square miles of Los Glaciares national park, it is fed by the melting waters of the south Patagonian ice fields in the Andes. A set of interactive images on 360cities, give an impression of the scale (use the white arrows to click between views), as well as the variations of blue - the less oxygen in the ice, the bluer it gets. An immersive video tour of the wilderness beyond the glacier, created by the Guardian in 2018 (above), takes viewers around the varied landscape of the protected Parque Patagonia, passing turquoise rapids, a rainbow and a pack of guanacos roaming the plains.

Ambrym volcano, Vanuatu

This virtual tour ventures down into one of the world's most active volcanoes, just a few metres from a churning 1,200C lava lake. It follows adventurers Ulla Lohmann and Sebastian Hoffmann, a couple who make documentary films, along with volcanologist Thomas Boyer, who descend together to the third terrace of Benbow, one of the main vents of the Ambrym volcano, on the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.. The short interactive film joins the team as they prepare for the expedition, travel to base camp, up to the rim beyond the jungle, into the ash plain, and abseil down into the crevice, sitting just 60m away from the lava. The longer hair-raising 25-minute documentary, Spitting Distance - The Descent Into a Raging Volcano, is also available online.

Namib desert dunes, Namibia

The swirling sculptural patterns the Namib desert's sand dunes stretch for 31,000 square miles across the Namib-Naukluft national park in southern Africa. Some of the largest can be found in the Sossusvlei area, home to mountainous swathes of pink-orange sand, including the 388m-high Dune 7, which sits opposite Big Daddy at 325m, and Big Mamma, 198m. There are several interactive 360-degree images offering views from the giant dune ridges. The tour also includes the iconic Deadvlei, a salty clay pan backdrop to blackened, dead acacia trees; mist approaching from the sea of the Skeleton Coast; and a starlit scene showing the Milky Way.

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10 of the best virtual tours of the world's natural wonders

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If you're bored of lockdown strolls in the local park, try these online hikes to Everest and Patagonia and a jaw-dropping ascent of El Capitan

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Explore The Hidden Worlds of our National Parks

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Explore The Hidden Worlds of our National Parks

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Follow rangers on a journey to places most people never go in stunning 360° video.

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Here Are Some Incredible Virtual Tours To Help You Pass The Time

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Here are a list of virtual tours, walks, and adventures to lose yourself in and forget you’re self-isolating.

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Singapore is beautiful!  Wear your masks and practice safe distancing - Check how busy parks are before you go out. We can still enjoy our natural environment. Take pictures on your walks and hashtag, share with our community. Draw, sketch, take inspiration for poetry, do leaf rubbings, learn the names of plants. Stop and listen to the birds. Look up at the clear sky. Our home is beautiful. Being in nature is good for you

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Luisa Rivera for Yale Environment 360

A growing body of research points to the beneficial effects that exposure to the natural world has on health, reducing stress and promoting healing. Now, policymakers, employers, and healthcare providers are increasingly considering the human need for nature in how they plan and operate.

How long does it take to get a dose of nature high enough to make people say they feel healthy and have a strong sense of well-being?

Precisely 120 minutes.

In a study of 20,000 people, a team led by Mathew White of the European Centre for Environment & Human Health at the University of Exeter, found that people who spent two hours a week in green spaces - local parks or other natural environments, either all at once or spaced over several visits - were substantially more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than those who don't. Two hours was a hard boundary: The study, published last June, showed there were no benefits for people who didn't meet that threshold.

The effects were robust, cutting across different occupations, ethnic groups, people from rich and poor areas, and people with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

"It's well-known that getting outdoors in nature can be good for people's health and well-being, but until now we've not been able to say how much is enough," White said. "Two hours a week is hopefully a realistic target for many people, especially given that it can be spread over an entire week to get the benefit."

The study by White and his colleagues is only the latest in a rapidly expanding area of research that finds nature has robust effects on people's health - physically, mentally, and emotionally.

The studies "point in one direction: Nature is not only nice to have, but it's a have-to-have for physical health and cognitive function."

"When I wrote Last Child in the Woods in 2005, this wasn't a hot topic," said Richard Louv, a journalist in San Diego whose book is largely credited with triggering this movement and who coined the term Nature Deficit Disorder. "This subject was virtually ignored by the academic world. I could find 60 studies that were good studies. Now it's approaching and about to pass 1,000 studies, and they point in one direction: Nature is not only nice to have, but it's a have-to-have for physical health and cognitive functioning."

These studies have shown that time in nature - as long as people feel safe - is an antidote for stress: It can lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels, reduce nervous system arousal, enhance immune system function, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and improve mood. Attention Deficit Disorder and aggression lessen in natural environments, which also help speed the rate of healing. In a recent study, psychiatric unit researchers found that being in nature reduced feelings of isolation, promoted calm, and lifted mood among patients.

The growing body of research - combined with an intuitive understanding that nature is vital and increased concerns about the exploding use of smart phones and other forms of technology - has led to tipping point at which health experts, researchers, and government officials are now proposing widespread changes aimed at bringing nature into people's everyday lives.

For example, researchers and policymakers now talk about "park deserts" in urban areas. Cities are adding or enhancing parks, and schools and other institutions are being designed with large windows and access to trees and green space - or blue space, as in aquatic environments. Businesses are increasingly aware of the desire among employees for access to green spaces. "It's needed to attract a skilled work force," said Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix. "Young people are demanding high-quality outdoor experiences."

The number of "forest schools" - which have long been a tradition in Scandinavia and where much of the learning takes place in natural settings in the outdoors - has mushroomed in the United States, up by 500 percent since 2012, according to Louv. Oregon recently passed a ballot measure to raise money for outdoor schools, and the state of Washington just became the first state to license outdoor preschools, where much of the play and learning occurs outside.

The organization Children & Nature Network, founded by Louv and others, advocates for more time in nature for children, tracks the research, and has a long list of abstracts that summarize studies on the subject on its website.

Hard-pressed Rust Belt cities go green to aid in urban revival. Read more.

And The Trust for Public Lands (TPL) has just finished a seven-year project to map the parks of the U.S., with the aim of identifying places in need of parkland. "We've mapped 14,000 communities, 86 percent of the nation, and looked at who does and doesn't live within a 10-minute walk of a park," said Adrian Benepe, a senior vice president of TPL. The organization has a Ten Minute Walk campaign to work with mayors across the U.S. to make sure all people have that kind of access.

An increasing number of healthcare providers are also embracing the back-to-nature paradigm. One organization, Park RX America, founded by Robert Zarr of Unity Healthcare in Washington, D.C., declares its mission "to decrease the burden of chronic disease, increase health and happiness, and foster environmental stewardship, by virtue of prescribing Nature during the routine delivery of healthcare by a diverse group of health care professionals." The organization has 10,000 parks in its "prescribing platform."

One expert says he's concerned that the growing interest in more contact with nature relies too much on only experiencing it visually.

The global Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides shows clients how to use immersion in nature for healing. "The forest is the therapist," the group's slogan reads. "The guides open the door."

Studies show that the effects of nature may go deeper than providing a sense of well-being, helping to reduce crime and aggression. A 2015 study of 2,000 people in the United Kingdom found that more exposure to nature translated into more community cohesion and substantially lower crime rates.

And while more vegetation is thought to encourage crime by providing security for criminals, another study found the opposite - vegetation abundance is associated with a reduction in assault, robbery, and burglary, although not theft.

Still, many of these studies are correlational rather than causal. That means it's hard to show that natural landscapes cause these effects, though these things happen when people are in a natural environment.

Sara L. Warber, professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan, noted that there are no "randomized, controlled studies" on the effects of nature on human health. Nonetheless, she said, there are epidemiological studies and measurements of before and after exposure to nature, and the results from this research are robust.

Peter H. Kahn, a professor of psychology at the University of Washington who has worked on these issues for decades, is encouraged by the new focus on the subject but concerned that the growing interest in more contact with nature relies too much on only experiencing it visually. "That's important, but an impoverished view of what it means to interact with the natural world," he said. "We need to deepen the forms of interaction with nature and make it more immersive."

Reconnecting with nature through green architecture: an interview with Stephen Kellert. Read more.

What are the active ingredients in a dose of nature? Pioneers in this work, Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, who began studying the subject in the 1970s, devised Attention Restoration Theory, which holds that paying attention in bustling cities, at work, or in other stressful environments requires a good deal of effortful attention. In a natural environment, however, the Kaplans found that people paid attention more broadly and in a less effortful way, which leads to far more relaxed body and mind.

Japanese researchers have studied "forest bathing" - a poetic name for walking in the woods. They suspect aerosols from the forests, inhaled during a walk, are behind elevated levels of Natural Killer or NK cells in the immune system, which fight tumors and infections. A subsequent study, in which essential oils from cedars were emitted in a hotel room where people slept, also caused a significant spike in NK cells.

However this growing field might be defined, it is gaining momentum. In a recent paper, 26 authors laid out a framework to create a formal role for the positive impacts nature has on mental health and to formulate a model for conserving nature in cities and integrating it into planning for these health effects.

"There is an awakening underway today to many of the values of nature and the risks and costs of its loss," says one researcher.

"We have entered the urban century, with two-thirds of humanity projected to be living in cities by 2050," said Gretchen Daily, director of the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University and a senior author of a recent paper arguing that the cognitive and emotional benefits of nature should be factored into economic ecosystem service models. "There is an awakening underway today to many of the values of nature and the risks and costs of its loss. This new work can help inform investments in livability and sustainability of the world's cities."

While the research has grown leaps and bounds, Kahn and others argue in a recent review paper that research into the topic is still lacking in many ways, and they lay out a research agenda they say would help formalize the role of nature in public health policy.

Habitat on the Edges: Making room for wildlife in an urbanized world. Read more.

Understanding nature's therapeutic effects may be arriving at a propitious moment. Some studies have found that anxiety over climate change is a growing phenomenon. Ironically, one of the best antidotes for that might be a dose of green space.

"If I am feeling depressed and anxious and worried about the environment," Warber said, "then one of the best things I can do is go out in nature."

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Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health

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A growing body of research points to the beneficial effects that exposure to the natural world has on health, reducing stress and promoting healing. Now, policymakers, employers, and healthcare providers are increasingly considering the human need for nature in how they plan and operate.

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Watch the video on this page, read about and upload the Earth Challenge app and join a global citizen science effort to protect our planet.

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Foodprints for the Future - have a read here.  Take the food print calculator and learn about the impact of your food choices. You can make a real difference with a few small changes.

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Join the worlds largest environmental movement

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Want more? Deep dive into a different economic model. Go, Kate! Doughnut Economics - time to listen?

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Want more? Deep dive into a different economic model. Go, Kate! Doughnut Economics - time to listen?

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Amsterdam embraces a new system as it looks to the future. Guardian article here.

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Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth - VPRO documentary - 2017

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The barrage of bad news can leave us feeling depressed, paralyzed and resigned to our fate. And while, yes, our leaders need to represent the people rather than fossil fuel companies determined to increase oil and gas production, individuals can take one meaningful climate action now:

Don't waste food

Think of reducing food waste as-sometimes literally-the low-hanging fruit of combating climate change.

Food Waste Facts

Food Waste Solutions

1. Eat the food

Yes, this is both obvious and simplified. But the problem of food waste is an edible one. We can eat the food.

22 more solutions to reduce food waste at the consumer level

We can't blame corporations and supermarkets and restaurants for all of this food waste. Although industry plays a huge role, a whopping 43 percent of food waste occurs in homes.

2. Start a food waste audit

You will have a better idea of what you waste if you measure it. At the end of each day, jot down what food went to waste and why. You might discover that no one in your household likes your red velvet ketchup cake and you could stop baking it.

Or perhaps you find shriveled Romaine in the back of the refrigerator all too often. You may just need to plan your meals a bit more (see number 5).

3. Use your senses

If you have leftovers in the refrigerator that your worry have gone south, give them a sniff and take a look at them. If they smell okay and look okay, they probably are okay to eat. If not, compost them (see number 22).

With packaged food, make this same judgment rather than relying on the best-before, sell-by and use-by dates stamped onto the packaging. Generally unregulated, these dates do not indicate food safety. Rather, these suggested dates from the food manufacturer indicate the food company's opinion of peak quality. In other words, they are a marketing gimmick.

Best-before dates encourage people to waste food. Concerned they will poison themselves and their loved ones if they eat food a day past its best-before date, they regularly toss out perfectly edible food-and buy more food.

4. Shop the pantry and refrigerator first

If you use up food that you have on hand, then you'll waste less of that food-and save money. Before you shop, take a quick glance through your pantry and refrigerator and make a mental note (or paper note or digital note) of what you find.

5. Plan a few meals

Think of a dish or two you can make with the food you found in number 4 and make a list of any missing ingredients. What else would you like to eat within the next few days or week? Add the ingredients you'll need for those dishes to your shopping list-and stick to that list when you shop. Go here for easy meal planning and a planner you can fill or download.

6. Buy less food

Many of us, when we see all the delicious food at the farmers' market or grocery store, can't resist it and buy too much. Or we vow to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables in a noble attempt to eat better-and we buy too much. Or we go shopping hungry. To waste less food, buy less food. If you can, also consider buying smaller amounts of food more frequently. This ensures your food will always be fresh.

7. Choose ugly fruit and vegetables

Some of the 40 percent of the food we waste in this country never actually makes it to the store. Why? Because most grocery stores reject ugly produce-kinky carrots, oblong apples, misshapen potatoes. But thanks to awareness-raising movements like the "Ugly" Fruit and Veg Campaign, people have begun to discover that produce that doesn't fit into the supermarket image of ideal beauty tastes delicious-and costs less.

Some grocery stores have begun to sell ugly produce. If you shop at the farmers' market, however, much of the produce is wonky because that's how fruit and vegetables grow. A few vendors at my farmers' market sell cosmetically challenged apples, avocados and occasionally other types of produce for a deep discount. I sometimes can't tell the difference between the supposedly ugly offerings and their "prettier" counterparts.

8. Store food properly

Not everything needs to go-or should go-in the refrigerator. Cool temperatures render tomatoes mealy and bland. Apples, however, will keep longer in there than they will at room temperature. Citrus-oranges, grapefruit, lemons-can develop spots on their rinds in cool temperatures. Click here for my A to Z list of storing produce without plastic.

9. Do some prep work when you return home from the store

Leafy greens like lettuce, kale and spinach tend to wilt quickly so I plan to eat them soon after I buy them and I prep them when I return home from the farmers' market-ideally. I trim them, cut any large pieces into smaller ones, wash and then spin them around outside over my head in a clean cloth produce bag. I then put the bags of prepped and ready-to-eat greens in the vegetable crisper of the refrigerator. They stay fresh this way for a long time-at least a week.

10. Freeze excess food

If you have some food on your hands that will start to turn before you can eat it, freeze it. You can freeze all sorts of food-soup, bread, cooked beans, nuts, cheese, milk, blanched vegetables, roasted tomatoes, fruit (slice it and spread it out on a tray and then transfer to jars) and more. Click here for how to freeze food without using plastic.

11. Learn to cook without a recipe

Forgo the recipes, learn how to cook a few endlessly versatile and simple dishes, add this and that, taste as you go and you won't waste a morsel. Cooking this way-I call it freestyle cooking-may not result in Instagram-worthy meals but they will taste delicious. Click here for a pile of freestyle non-recipe recipes.

12. Cook extra food that can go into the next dish

Wait, what? I want you to cook more food?! Won't that lead to more food waste, not less? I'm convinced that cooking and kitchen efficiency reduce food waste at the consumer level more than anything. But cooking takes time. If you always have something on hand to turn into something else, you'll save precious time.

For example, when you cook rice to go with a broccoli tofu stir-fry with peanut sauce, make extra rice and the next night, turn that into fried rice. You won't have to start from scratch every night, you'll use your creativity and you'll use everything up.

13. Learn to preserve food

A head of cabbage sitting on your kitchen counter will rot within a couple of weeks. But chop it, salt it and submerge it in its own juices for a few days and you'll have sauerkraut, which keeps for many months. Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), which occur naturally on all vegetables and increase after harvest, perform this magical transformation. Click here for sauerkraut 101 and the recipe.

14. Eat meals at-and from-home

When we eat most of our meals at home (or from home when you brown bag it to work or school), we eat the food we have at home and waste less of it as a result.

15. But when you do eat out, take a container for leftovers

Take a container or a jar or two with you in a cloth bag when you go out to dinner so you can pack up the leftovers you can't finish. You won't waste the restaurant's disposable to-go boxes.

16. Serve less food

Do you really need to cook an eight-course meal for your dinner party? And what about those giant plates you set the table with? Do you have smaller ones? Smaller portions reduce the amount of food we can't finish-and waste.

17. Avoid snacking at the office, at school and on the go

You can consume only so much food in a day. If you snack in between mealtimes, you won't be hungry for all that food you carefully bought for your meals.

18. Store food in glass containers

If you store leftover lasagna in an opaque container, you may forget about it until you stumble upon its slimy, decomposed remains a month later. Store food in glass in your refrigerator, your freezer and your cupboards, and you can see what you have at a glance. And now you have an excuse to hoard more jars-to help prevent food waste. All for the cause!

19. Save Our Scraps

Vegetable scraps for broth. Apple scraps for vinegar. Potato peels for frying up. Citrus peels for candy, zest, citrus salt, cleaning and more. Cooking with every last little bit makes cooking more fun and creative-and less expensive! Here are 15 creative uses for food scraps.

20. When the time comes to buy a new refrigerator, choose a smaller one

The Western diet, consisting of pre-packaged, processed convenience foods, does not require cooking skills. People used to preserve food through fermentation (see number 13), salting and smoking. They would put up food when it was plentiful to prepare for when it would not be.

Today, we rely on our refrigerators to prolong our food's shelf-life, essentially preserving our food for us. And refrigerators-big energy hogs-just keep getting bigger and bigger. This trend affects our wallets, our health and our waste streams-all for the worse. Because the larger the refrigerator, the more food you buy, the more food you eat, and the much more likely some of the food stashed in the refrigerator will end up in the trash.

21. Give away excess food

Share your extra food with friends and neighbors. Or go online.

Apps and websites have made this easier to do. OLIO, a free app, "connects neighbours with each other and with local shops and cafés so that surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. Users of the app simply snap a picture of their items and add them to OLIO. Neighbours then receive customised alerts and can request anything that takes their fancy. Pick-up takes place at the home or store, an OLIO Drop Box, or another agreed location-usually on the same day." Look for the app in the AppStore and on Google Play. Visit the website here.

Another site, Falling Fruit, provides a global map of free edible plants. Enter your address on the website and up pops a map with nearby locations for free foraging. When I first learned about this site and searched my area, hundreds of locations popped up within just a few miles of me. I was amazed. Use the site to either list or find food. Check out the website here.

Check out this list of 20 organizations both diverting perfectly edible food from going to waste and sharing it.

22. If food goes bad, compost it

Ideally, we would eat all of the food we buy but life happens. When you can't eat it or donate it or feed it to your chickens (because you have no chickens) before it becomes inedible, compost it.

Compacted in a landfill, food lacks exposure to air and so breaks down anaerobically, producing methane gas. Landfills emit this methane gas-a greenhouse gas much more potent than carbon dioxide-into the atmosphere. Food waste and food scraps do not belong in a landfill. Put that same food waste on a compost pile and it will actually sequester carbon dioxide from the air.

Can't compost in your small apartment? There's an app for that. ShareWaste is like Airbnb for your food scraps. You search the ShareWaste map for people accepting compost scraps where you live-or where you will be traveling to-and then you drop them off. Or you sign up to accept food scraps. All free, all volunteer run. This is the real sharing economy!

23. Show food the respect it deserves

Cheap, fast, plentiful food and a lack of knowledge about where that food comes from foster little respect for it. The more we respect food, the less of it we waste. So plant a fruit tree, teach your kids how to grow vegetables, visit a farm or get to know the hard-working people who grow our food.

Find more ways to reduce wasted food (and packaging waste) in my book!

Learn more about my book here.

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23 Simple Ways to Reduce Planet-Heating Wasted Food - Zero-Waste Chef

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Reducing food waste is literally the low-hanging fruit of combatting climate change. These simple methods will slash wasted food at home.

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There is no 'away'. Time to rethink and do things differently.

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There is no 'away'. Time to rethink and do things differently.

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Published 8 February 2020 ● Last Updated on 28 May 2023

Given a choice between buying new or repairing old, which one would you go with? And if you are still thinking about your answer, maybe the heavy-weight fact that more than 21,000 tonnes of waste is generated in Singapore on a daily basis will help tilt your decision scale in the right direction. To make a much needed difference and reduce the amount of waste generated, each of us needs to choose the repair option over the discard option, EVERY TIME!

Our previous article on focused on the importance of repairing goods instead of simply trashing them. Globally, consumers want to be able to fix their own products and are challenging the 'repair monopoly' that manufacturers hold. Even a few governments are taking note and enacting legislation to this end. In this article, we've collated a list of all the different fix-it places in Singapore - be it for garments, furniture, household appliances or small electronics. Just head over there and get your repair 'fix'!
As we have not tried all the services ourselves, we cannot guarantee the quality of repair . We've indicated shops that are tried and tested - but please search for reviews online or within your friend circles. Secondsguru's role here is limited to collating info on where repair services are provided. There is no sponsored content. If you have feedback to share - please leave comments so others can benefit from it!
Where to repair CLOTHES / TEXTILES?

Why throw away a great pair of pants when all it needs is some alteration? Whether you need to lengthen the hem of a skirt, shorten the length of your jeans, repair a tear on the shorts, alter the fit of a top or restyle a vintage dress - make up for your lack of sewing skills by heading to the experts below!

For clothes alterations and repairs:

◎ Just Nice* | Roxy Square| Tel: 62477083

* Tried and tested | "I used them for simple length alterations on jeans and dresses, and they were "just nice" as promised!", says Secondsguru founder Anuja Aggarwal.

◎ Alteration Studio | One Raffles Link| Website

◎ | One Raffles Link| Website

For high end clothes and expensive item repairs:

◎ Nelson| 58 Seng Poh Road, #1-25 | Tel: 6220 1991| FB Page

* Tried and tested | "Excellent work on alteration of my work pants", recommends a Secondsguru reader.

For clothes DIY repair:

For soft toys repair:

◎ Plushie Hospital| Repair and cleaning | Website

If you have gently worn clothes that you would like to donate, do check out our guide Where to donate in Singapore .

Good shoes last forever but sometimes with the wear and tear, they do need a bit of extra care. Have a broken heel that needs to be fixed? Or is the leather cracking in places? Need to get your suede shoes cleaned? Or the office shoe re-soled? Our list has repair chains and even neighborhood cobblers you can turn to!

For shoes repairs:

* | "They're dependable for basic repairs such as sole-glueing and equipped with basic machinery to do the job. High priced - but convenient locations," testifies a Secondsguru reader. Tried and tested

◎ Yamaguchi Taro| Yishun| Tel: 9670 4961| Website

* Tried and Tested| "They did a fabulous job at re-soling my office shoes - and at a sensible price - Yamaguchi San is now my go-to guy!", testifies a reader.

◎ Shoelock Holmes| Far East Shopping Center| Tel: 6235 9894 | No website - but see Google Reviews

◎ Steve Autokey & Shoe Services| Behind Holland Road Shopping Mall| Tel: 9007 0889

Where to repair ACCESSORIES

We've got your shoes and clothes covered, so accessories can't be far behind. Have a broken watch strap or need a simple battery change or some jewellery polished, Singapore has repair specialists in these too!

For watch repairs and battery replacements:

For mechanical watch repairs:

For high end watch repairs:

It is preferable to go to the designated service centre for your brand.

For jewellery repairs and maintenance:

For eyeglass frame repairs:

The funny thing about bags is that we need to take one for repair because we use it all the time or it's never been used. Either way, what do you do when your daily-use sling bag's straps come off or your high-end leather purse loses its sheen? Bring in the experts! Plus, travel suitcases need repairs due to the tough journeys they undergo. And we have an option even for bags that don't need fixing - when you are bored with a tote but don't want to throw it out - simply give it a new look!

For handbag repairs:

For handbag maintenance and cleaning:

For handbag upcycling:

* Tried and tested | Secondsguru Founder sent in her bag for a new look and she loved the new look. Take a look at the bag's journey

For suitcase and travel bag repairs:

Where to repair ELECTRONICS

Dropped your iPhone in water? Is your laptop just not switching on? A cracked mobile screen needs changing? All these can be fixed - you do not need to go out and buy a new gadget!

For mobile phone repairs:

* Tried and Tested| "I used their service for my shattered iPhone screen - super quick, super efficient and reasonable prices too," confirms Secondsguru Founder (and serial iPhone screen-breaker) Anuja

For laptop or PC repairs:

For Apple product repairs:

Find your authorised service centres

For DIY electronic repairs:

For camera repairs:

Where to repair HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES

Did you ever have the feeling that household items had a self-destruct button - how they get spoiled just as the warranty ends? They seem to know somehow... So, if you have a fridge, air-conditioner, microwave or any other household appliance that needs repairing, here are a few options if your authorised repair center is unable to give you any assistance.

For household appliance repairs:

Where to repair HOME DECOR / HOME ACCESSORIES

Why throw away a sofa because the covers are dirty? Or dump a chair because the leg is broken? Or give up a mattress simply because of a stain? Give a new look to your home, and make your furniture last longer with the help of these experts.

For furniture upholstery:

◎ Kim Hwee Sofa Industry| Golden Pine Industrial Building| Tel: 6280 1208

For furniture restorations:

◎ Cheng Carpenters & Design| Woodlands Bizhub| Tel: 6836 6760, 9845 2567 | FB Page

* Tried and Tested| "When I relocated my furniture from Hong Kong to Singapore, some of my favourite furniture pieces were damaged during shipment. Luckily for me, the insurer sent Cheng Carpenters for restoration services - and they did beautiful repair work. All pieces are still standing strong," attests Secondsguru Founder Anuja

◎ Tommi: King of restoration| Yishun Ave 6| Tel: 8222 5233| Website & FB Page

◎ Blk 352 Ang Mo Kio Street 32, #11-131, Singapore 560352| Tel: 9658 8461

* Tried and Tested| "This HDB shop does rattan work - they did really good job reworking my wooden chair. It was the most reasonable option I found in Singapore," shares a Secondsguru follower.

For furniture cleaning /stain removal /sanitisation services:

◎ ChemDry| Genting Lane| Tel: 6749 3252| Website

* Tried and Tested| "I called them for a home cleaning service for my chairs - very efficient service," reports a Secondsguru reader.

For furniture restyling:

For lamp shade re-upholstery:

◎ Johor and Co| Yishun Industrial Park A| Tel: 6758 5874

* Tried and Tested| " When my beautiful green lampshade purchased from a vintage store in Hong Kong nearly 10 years ago turned pale yellow, I decided to get it fixed. I asked around for recommendations and am glad that I went with Lims for getting it done- both for quality of their work and the professional service provided. The shade is now pastel blue and adds a nice pop of color to the house as its earlier green version did," attests Secondsguru Founder Lara

For rattan repairs:

For ceramics repair:

The failing brakes on bikes, the punctured cycle tires, the sagging strings on tennis rackets - they don't need to keep you away from your game. Head to the experts for a quick fix of sports goods.

For sports goods maintenance and servicing:

◎ Sports Report (Tennis racquet gutting/restringing) | Tel: 6472 3876| FB page|

For cycle servicing:

◎ Decathlon| Select Branches Only| Website

Where to repair MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

* Offer rental services as well as preloved for sale

* For guitars only - offer repair, servicing as well as sales of preloved and vintage guitars.

If you have any suggestions to add or any recommendations, do leave us a message below. Happy Repairing from now on!

Related Articles:

Repair, Reuse, Reduce | All you need to know about the Right to Repair Movement

Declutter, Donate, Dispose: Our guide to giving away old things in Singapore

Recycling in Singapore| Tackling some common myths

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Where to repair? A guide to service providers in Singapore - Secondsguru

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A directory of repair service providers in Singapore - so you can get your shoes, bags, furniture, watches, etc fixed instead of having to throw them out!

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We make movies that make a difference

Our first movie, The Story of Stuff, started it all, launching an honest conversation about our consumption-crazed culture. Since then, we've produced dozens more animated shorts and documentaries that chart a path to a more just and sustainable future.

Want to help write the next chapter in the Story of Stuff? Whatever you have to offer, a better future needs it! Take our Changemaker Personality Quiz to see what role you can play in the movement.

We're part of a global movement working to hold polluters accountable and put people over profit. Join the movement for a future free from plastic pollution by taking action with us today.

The Story of "The Story Of Stuff"

Watch the film that started it all!

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We're spotlighting incredible activists creating a brighter future. This is Casey Camp's story of the Ponca people and fighting to protect the Rights of Nature. Our first movie, The Story of Stuff, started it all, launching an honest conversation about our consumption-crazed culture.

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