Earth Day 2025 will be celebrated globally on Monday, April 22.

The first official Earth Day began in 1970 after a major oil spill took place in Santa Barbara, California. On January 28, 1969, a well being drilled off the coast of Santa Barbara blew out, resulting in more than 3 million gallons of oil leaking into the ocean. Thousands of animals were killed, including birds, dolphins, sea lions, and seals. Because of this major disaster, environmentalists and activists created environmental regulations, education, and ultimately, Earth Day.

Want to celebrate Earth Day but not sure where to start? Here are a few ideas and activities you can do at home or in your community. For more information, check out Earth Day 2025 events further down.

One of the most direct ways to make a positive impact on Earth Day is to get out there and clean up your neighborhood. Picking up litter in your neighborhood not only makes it look nice and clean, it can also help to protect local wildlife and ecosystems. You can even recruit a few friends or family to help. Cleaning up your local area is also a great way to set an example for others. Look out for clean up events in your neighborhood or start your own!

• Comfortable shoes
• Grabber arm or litter stick
• Hand sanitizer
• Eco-friendly water bottle to stay hydrated
• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses

Livestock like cattle and pigs produce a significant amount of methane, which can act as a greenhouse gas. Cutting back on the amount of meat you eat per week will help decrease greenhouse gasses. In celebration of Earth Day 2025, try going meatless for the day, or take it a step further and make Meatless Mondays a regular occurrence.

A large majority of the energy that powers our homes comes directly from fossil fuels. If we unplug our electronic devices, we reduce our home’s energy demand and carbon emissions. This Earth Day, spend time outdoors enjoying nature and limit screen time.

Trees can help reduce climate change as they remove carbon dioxide from the air, store carbon within themselves and soil, then release oxygen back into the atmosphere. Check your local area for nurseries and plant stores that are open.

Donating to an environmental cause can be the perfect way to lend your support to Earth Day — and it fits this year’s theme of investing in your planet. You can donate directly to the official Earth Day organization or find a related cause that you are most passionate about.

Earth Day Donation Suggestions

• Earth Day Official Site to go straight to the source
• Oceana, Ocean Conservancy, or Well Aware are great choices if you are passionate about water, like us as Aquasana 
• Use a service like Charity Navigator to find the perfect environmental charity near you

If you don’t have time to volunteer or have extra money to donate, you can still help to celebrate Earth Day by making an Earth Day resolution. Whether you pledge to cut down on water consumption, use less plastic, reduce energy consumption, or something else, every little bit can help when it comes to protecting our environment, wildlife, and natural resources.

• Limit your shower time to less than 8 minutes
• Only use reusable bags for shopping
• Don’t leave the faucet running
• Limit disposable water bottles and replace them with reusable bottles
• Turn off electronics and lights when you aren’t using them
• Reduce meat consumption, especially meats like beef that can produce a lot of methane
• Buy bulk foods to reduce your use of plastic containers
• Walk or ride a bike instead of driving a car
• Carpool to reduce emissions and gas consumption
• Recycle more
• Repair instead of replace
• Start a composting pile
• Pledge to swap out your household cleaning products with alternatives made from recycled and eco-friendly materials

We've also compiled a list of amazing events happening across the U.S. Find an event that aligns with your environmental goals and reach out to see how you can help!

The Canopy Project is a global initiative that plants trees to benefit communities and combat climate change. You can participate by donating money to the organization, or contact the organization for information about how to plant trees with them.

My Planet, My Closet is a project that aims to create a dialogue around sustainable fashion and shopping. To celebrate Earth Day 2025, people are invited to send a video about your sustainable clothing that will be showcased on earthday.org's social media profiles.

You can also take a Sustainable Fashion Quiz to test your knowledge about sustainable clothing and what’s in your closet, or post and tag a picture of yourself wearing a sustainable garment and why you like it.

The Great Global Cleanup is a worldwide program that aims to remove trash from neighborhoods, beaches, rivers, lakes, trails, and parks. You can register for a clean-up near you to join the effort for Earth Day 2025.

The Global Earth Challenge is a coordinated citizen science campaign that started in 2020 and empowers people to help the scientific community by collecting data using a mobile app. Today, the project is trying to understand how insect populations like bees are changing, but they’re also collecting research on air quality, plastics, and food security.

People can download the app and take part in the challenge through four options:

• Classify: Identify pollution in pictures for ongoing research projects, and help researchers train machine learning models for the environment.
• Capture: Submit information including pictures from your area to assist researchers.
• Learn: Discover critically important environmental issues to make changes in your lifestyle and facilitate conversations with others.
• Act: Find local cleanup events and relevant environmental petitions to support.

The Earth is our home and we need to take care of it, and Earth Day is the perfect time to learn more about the environment and how to get involved in eco-friendly initiatives. 

Remember that change can start out small, whether it’s reducing the use of disposable plastic water bottles by buying a water filter, using less water when you shower, getting out there and cleaning up your neighborhood, or joining an eco-friendly organization.

Join Aquasana by pledging to take care of our planet by keeping our water clean and reducing waste. Have a great Earth Day!