Of course, if caring for the environment truly matters, it shouldn’t be reserved for a single day. The health of the soil, water, air, and the life that depends on it, is not a seasonal concern, nor a matter for occasional attention. If it matters at all, it must matter every day.
But if we give in to the temptation to say that Earth Day should be everyday, we risk missing the plot. What is constant can become ordinary. And what becomes ordinary does not get much attention.
As a business, we’ve felt the hesitation around it. The careful wording. The awareness that anything we say might be questioned, weighed, or dismissed as performance.
Consumer skepticism is a good thing, and people are right to question these claims. But as a business, sometimes it feels easier to say less. To focus on doing the work quietly, year-round, and let that speak for itself. There is value in that, but there is also a risk.
Because Earth Day was never meant to be ordinary.
What is Earth Day?
In the years leading up to the first Earth Day, the land was already speaking.
A river in Ohio caught fire. Oil spread across coastlines. The effects of chemical use on wildlife and human health were becoming impossible to ignore.
These were not isolated events. They were signals that something was wrong.
So it was when a US senator by the name of Gaylord Nelson called for a national day of attention.
The date: April 22, 1970.
He wasn’t proposing a solution. He was proposing a movement. A shift in our attention. 20 million people showed up, about 10% of the US population at the time, to gather, learn, ask questions, and, most importantly, to pay attention together.
From it came action. The United States Environmental Protection Agency was established. Laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act followed. These changes were not perfect, but they altered the way we interact with the natural world in ways that still matter today.
What began as a national moment did not stay contained. Over the following decades, Earth Day spread beyond borders, taken up by communities, organizations, and governments around the world. By 1990, it had grown into a global event involving hundreds of millions of people across more than 140 countries. Today, more than a billion people participate each year, making it the largest secular civic event in the world.
A single day did not solve the problem. But it got attention. And it brought change.
The work that followed, and the work that remains
We still have a long way to go. But it would be wrong to say that nothing has improved.
In many places, the air is cleaner than it once was. Waterways that carried waste now support life again. Awareness of environmental impact is far greater than it was decades ago. These are real gains.
But the reality is that our future is still in peril. Global temperatures continue to rise. Species are being lost at an unprecedented rate. Waste accumulates faster than we can manage it. The systems we rely on are under pressure, often in ways that are difficult to understand but no less significant.
The land is still signaling to us that everything is not okay.
Why a single day still matters
As a business, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we do every day.
The materials we use. The products we make. The systems we participate in. The ways we can reduce waste and do better over time.
That work is ongoing, and it should be.
But we don’t believe that makes a day like Earth Day unnecessary. In fact, it may make it more important.
Because daily action, while essential, can become routine. It can lose its sense of urgency. It can become something we assume we are doing well enough without stopping to ask if that’s true.
A single day interrupts that.
It asks us to step back and look again. Not just at what we’re doing, but at why we’re doing it.
On saying something, even when it’s imperfect
Words can be easy. Claims can outpace action. People are right to expect more.
But there is a difference between speaking carelessly and not speaking at all.
If we wait until everything we do is perfect before we engage in the conversation, we will be waiting a long time.
We are not perfect.
We make physical products. That has an impact. We are part of larger systems that are still figuring out how to do better.
What we can do is be honest about that. To keep improving. To align our actions as closely as we can with the outcomes we hope to see.
And to use moments like Earth Day to encourage others to do the same.
Education, encouragement, and attention
For us, Earth Day is not about making a claim.
It is about inviting others to join in this movement. To encourage people to pause and think a little more closely about the systems they are part of, and the role they play within them. To pause and consider the habits we repeat without thinking, what we throw away, and how those habits shape more than we realize.
That might look like learning something new. Taking part in something local. Or simply paying closer attention to what is usually overlooked, and making small, meaningful changes as a result.
These may not be dramatic acts like the kind that lead to that first Earth Day.
But they are the kinds of actions that, over time, shape larger outcomes.
If it looks like a PR stunt
We understand that not everyone will see it this way.
Some will view any business participation in Earth Day as a performance. A marketing exercise. A moment of convenient alignment.
That skepticism is part of the landscape, and to a certain extent, it is healthy.
But it doesn’t change the underlying reality. The environmental challenges we face have not been solved. Not even close.
And until they are, there is still value in drawing attention to them.
Even if that attention is imperfect and even if it is questioned. Even if it is, at times, misunderstood.
Keeping the day distinct
It is tempting to say that every day should be Earth Day. In principle, that is true. But in practice, it risks missing the point. Because when everything is treated as equally urgent, urgency itself can fade. A single day, set apart, carries a different weight. It creates a moment that stands out, that invites participation, that gathers attention in a way that ordinary days do not.
Earth Day is not meant to replace the work we do every day. It is meant to remind us why that work matters.
A closing thought
As a business, we will continue to do what we can, day in and day out, to reduce our impact and make better choices. And we will also continue to show up on Earth Day.
Not because it solves everything, but because it creates a moment where more people might stop, look, and consider their place within the larger system.
The land is still signaling to us. The least we can do is keep paying attention.
Happy Earth Day, from our workshop to you.