At NOLS, we value the environment and are excited to celebrate it during Earth Week! A healthy environment sustains our livelihood on many different levels because we love to work, play, and learn outside.

Take a look at what we’re doing to celebrate Earth Week at Headquarters in Lander, Wyoming—maybe you can bring some of these ideas to your workplace!

Design by Anna Boyle.

Sustainability in the office

This week, we’re introducing “sustainability kits” around the office. Our kits contain information about our energy usage at Headquarters along with tips and tricks to help save energy, which could be easily replicated or modified for your office. Here are a few examples:

• Put your computer in “sleep” mode at the end of the work day and turn off the monitor. This will allow it to back up your work while still saving energy.

• Bring a sweater and an extra pair of socks to layer up if you feel chilly instead of turning on a space heater at your desk.

• At lunchtime, cut down on refrigerator gazing. Peeking into the refrigerator can add up in energy expenses, so decide what you want to grab before opening the door.

• Reuse extra cardboard boxes when you ship items. At the NOLS Store we try to reuse as many boxes as possible—we call this our “ugly box” campaign.

What's inside our sustainability kits, packaged in NOLS "ugly boxes". Photo by Cat Cook.

Sprucing up our neighborhood with native plants

Photo by Utah Wildflowers.

The sustainability kits also include “seed bombs”, which are made of clay, compost, and native flower seeds. They’re easy to make and fun to use. Anyone can brighten up a dreary corner or abandoned lot by simply launching a seed bomb in that direction and waiting for springtime to work its magic. Plus, the native plants also attract native pollinators! They encourage a healthy and diverse ecosystem, connecting and creating habitat.

Taking care of our backyard

Photo from Wikimedia.

And on Friday, after we’ve all done our part by saving some energy at the office and spreading some cheerful seeds around town, we’ll top it all off with a service project and a celebration on Earth Day. In the morning, we’re loading up in a bus and heading over to nearby Sinks Canyon to help clean up an invasive plant called tumble mustard or tumbleweed, eliminating a fuel source for wildfires and decreasing competition with native plants. Later in the day, we’re asking the community to join us for an Earth Day celebration in the park with games, music, food and an outdoor film.

We’re always excited to get outside, but this week is extra special. Whether you work in a big city, out of your home, or in the wilderness, be sure to do something special to help get people outside and appreciate the earth this Earth Week.

Photo courtesy of Pascale Gulick.