One of the most exciting times of the year is finally approaching — the end of the semester. With all of the hectic scrambling coming to a high point, Earth Day on April 22 might have passed you by.

But don’t worry, because in fact, Earth Day is every day. Even though the official holiday comes once a year, it is important to make sustainability a habit you carry throughout your daily life.

Monday marked the formal celebration of Earth Day, a holiday founded 43 years ago by groups of college students across the country. Originally founded as a day of action, Earth Day now means a day of appreciation for our lovely planet and all of the creatures and people on it.

While remembering the significance of Earth Day is commendable, the actions that exhibit appreciation are even better.

At the time of the first Earth Day, we as a country were dealing with a significant amount of problems, especially with pollution and industry accountability. As awareness grew — thanks in part to the strong college movement — legislation began to be passed, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and more.

Though we have made great strides, there are new and old issues that need to be addressed. There are still various pollutants in our air, water and bodies. We need to confront the loss of biodiversity and use of non-renewable resources. We need to slow our creation of waste. There are clearly myriad problems on the table.

When it seems too daunting, we have to remember that we hold power in making daily sustainable habits stick. When we all take small steps toward this goal, the whole conglomeration of trivial changes make a significant difference.

Just because we’re in college and lack the power to create national legislation or enforce international agreements doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do.

We can start out with small, mindful actions. The end of the semester is a perfect time for this. With students leaving for the summer, the university area generates a large amount of waste. This includes books, paper and furniture.

Instead of throwing everything to the curb, try to reuse or recycle items. If you only used half of your notebook for history class, use the rest of it for another subject next semester. If you’re moving out of Syracuse, give your couch to a friend or another student who could use one.

It’s simple actions like giving something away or using it another day that can reduce our waste. It’s the everyday actions that matter, not just the strides toward sustainability we might take on Earth Day.

If you’re looking for more options, Syracuse University and the city of Syracuse have programs to collect all sorts of recyclable or reusable items. Check out their websites and do a little Googling to find out what you can do.

When we all take sustainable actions together, we can have a larger positive effect in solving environmental issues. By doing something small, we can’t only remember that Earth Day is every day, but we can live it.

Meg Callaghan is a junior environmental studies major at SUNY-ESF. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at mlcallag@syr.edu.

Published on April 24, 2013 at 1:00 am