Participate in a Sustainability Focused Team Building Activity This Earth Day
What Is Earth Day?
Earth Day is celebrated every year on April 22. It celebrates the anniversary of the modern environmental movement that started in 1970.
Before Earth Day was observed, Americans were contributing to poor environmental conditions by using a lot of leaded gas through inefficient vehicles. As a result, the air was being filled with smoke and sludge, and no one seemed worried about the consequences. Instead, people accepted that air pollution would just be a factor of life prospering.
However, in 1962, Rachel Carson published the book Silent Spring. It sold more than 500,000 copies across twenty-four countries and raised public awareness about living organisms and the environment. It also showcased the link between the high amounts of pollution and how it was affecting public health.
As an environmental consciousness began to emerge, people started focusing on fixing environmental concerns. This led to the very first Earth Day in 1970.
Why Is Earth Day Important?
Simply designating a day as Earth Day is not enough to make a difference. However, it can make a huge difference when people actually do something. Here are some reasons why Earth Day is so important.
It gives people a chance to learn about the environmental issues that are currently affecting our planet.
When citizens make a point to do environmentally conscious demonstrations on Earth Day, it helps show the government officials that their constituents are serious about making a difference.
Earth Day sets aside a specific day for us to reflect on how important it is to keep the planet safe and what we can do to accomplish that.
Earth Day has influenced national policy in the past and should continue to impact it in the future.
How to Use Earth Day for Team Bonding
Earth day gives people a chance to come together to help the environment. It's also a great chance for you to get your team together and do some environmentally-conscious team-building activities this Spring. There are many ways you can do this, but here are four easy ways to do a team-building activity this Earth Day.
Get Outdoors
In this activity, you will be preparing some boxes for people spending time outdoors. It has been proven that increasing your outdoor activity will improve your physical fitness and your mental health. This activity will see the team packing bags that include outdoor essentials along with fun activities that will engage families and children. Once the bags are packed, they will be sent off to places like local parks, youth centers, or summer camps.
Here are some examples of things to include in your boxes.
Outdoor essentials packed in a drawstring backpack.
Water
Sunscreen
First aid kit
Anything else you can think of
Materials to make outdoor activities
Nature scavenger hunt
Outdoor games
Anything else you can think of
Playing cards for the youth receiving the boxes
Bird Houses
Global warming, human activity, and natural disasters are unfortunately causing birds to lose their natural habitats. When we lose birds, we lose their insect control and pollination efforts. In this activity, the team will assemble and paint birdhouses for a bird species that is threatened. Along with the birdhouses, the team will make birdseed ornaments to attract the birds to their new homes. Finally, you will donate the birdhouses to an environmental organization.
Here is what you should include for supplies.
The tools and materials needed to paint birdhouses
Any supplies needed to make birdseed ornaments
Native Bees
Did you know that bees are responsible for 1 in every 3 bites of food you eat? Unfortunately, bees are declining in number due to habitat loss from global warming and natural disasters. If bees completely die out, the world will look a little different, so we need to make an extra effort to help the bees.
In this project, the team will assemble and decorate native pollinator bee boxes. They will also mix materials to make wildflower seed balls. Hopefully, this will convince bees to come to the bee boxes and continue pollinating and producing honey. You can set up the bee boxes at homes or donate them to an environmental organization.
Here are the supplies you will need.
Any supplies you will use to build and decorate bee pollinators
Materials to create seed balls
Garden Kits
There are unfortunately a lot of students impacted by food insecurity, but an at-home garden kit can provide a natural laboratory for rhythm to learn about sustainability and where their food comes from. First, the team will get together to divide and label planting materials. Then, they will repackage it into gift-like kits to donate to schools, community gardens, or youth organizations. This will allow children to grow their own food and learn about sustainability at the same time.
Here is what the boxes should include.
All materials required to create garden kits
Soil
Seeds
Shovel
Watering can
Cards of support to accompany the kits
Conclusion
Human actions, natural disasters, and climate change all impact the Earth in negative ways. Scientists are predicting that if we don't do something about it sooner than later, our way of life will change dramatically within the next fifty-one hundred years.
It's important to always be conscious of the Earth and what you are doing, but Earth Day gives us a specific day to complete projects that will benefit the Earth. So, take Earth Day as an opportunity to bring your team together to do projects that will help the environment. For example, you could make outdoor activity kits for families, make birdhouses to save threatened bird species, create bee boxes to help save the bees, or create garden kits for local youth to grow their own food.
At Host Events, we want to help you develop a great team bonding experience for your team. Contact us today to see how we can help you develop an earth-conscious activity or just one to bring your team together. We will get to know your team dynamic and create the best bonding activity for you.