Eco-Friendly Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day, a Very “NASA Climate Kids” Valentine’s Day, the Climate Coalition UK

ECO-FRIENDLY WAYS TO CELEBRATE VALENTINE’S DAY

We love the earth. We love the planet. We love the earth, it is our home…Happy Valentine’s day, everybody.         

A lot of listeners to The Climate Daily do so first thing in the morning, and if you, dear listener, are like a lot of the human population, you’ve procrastinated until today to buy your loved one a valentine’s day gift. So this story is for you. It’s how you can not only show mother earth you love her, you can show your loved one how your love of mother earth is reflected in what you got them.

And for the record, these ideas come to us from a story from Valentine’s Day 2021, from the Bangor Daily News and The Climate Reality Project. Start by buying better bouquets. A bouquet is a classic romantic gesture, but purchasing Valentine’s Day flowers comes with measurable costs to the climate. Most cut flowers are shipped from abroad, which accrue significant carbon emissions as they are shipped to the United States.

It would be great if you could purchase a bouquet of locally-grown flowers, but those are near-impossible to come by in the middle of February in many parts of the world. Instead, think about buying a potted houseplant or succulent that will be able to thrive during floral off seasons in your next of the woods. That way, you can enjoy all year long.

If the bouquet is the thing, request it come without the plastic sleeve. On the one hand, these flowers have gone their whole lives up to this moment not needing a plastic sleeve to prop them up. On the other hand, many florists now carry eco-friendly wrapping—just like they did before the era of plastic began around WWII.  

DEEPER DIVE: Bangor Daily News, Vox, Climate Reality Project

FIVE MORE GREAT GREEN WAYS TO CELEBRATE VALENTINE’S DAY

And the Love Fest continues…. Here are a few suggestions on how to let the whole world know you’re not afraid to demonstrate public displays of affection with Mother Earth! Admittedly, some of these next great ideas may sound like they’re conflating St. Paddy’s day and the day Cupid calls his own, but hey, that’s all part of the fun. Just go with us on this. All right: 

1. Share a green heart! Take a picture of a green heart and post it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with hashtag #ShowTheLove. 

2. Wear a green heart on Valentine’s Day to spark conversations about protecting our climate.

3. Take a selfie showing you and your green heart for Valentine’s Day.

This one I like a lot: 

4. Get a group together and form a heart. Share your photo with the hashtag #ShowTheLove!

And speaking of which,

      5.Share a groovy poem and video produced by The Climate Coalition called, A Love Song #ShowTheLove:

 Share it with somebody you love, or with somebody you know loves the planet. Surf on over to TheClimateDaily.org/episodes and click on the link in the Deeper Dive section to view the gorgeous video.

DEEPER DIVE: #ShowThatLove, YouTube

THE CLIMATE COALITION, UK

Some of you may already know about the Climate Coalition, thanks to its multi-year, very successful #ShowTheLove campaign. Some of you may know of the group because of its affiliation with Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, Stop Climate Chaos Cymru (Wales) and the Royal Society for the Protection of Bird, all groups we’ve spotlighted on The Climate Daily.

But if you’re still unfamiliar, presenting Britain’s Climate Coalition. Claiming a whopping 22 million person membership across 100 partner organizations, it’s the UK’s largest group of people dedicated to action against climate change. And according to its website, “There has never been a more exciting time to join The Climate Coalition.This year we have big plans to bring people together to use their voices to show that they are stepping up to protect what they love – and they expect politicians to step up too.”

Why does Britain’s Climate Coalition matter to America, the EU and the rest of the world for that matter? Because climate change doesn’t care about our difference. The Climate Coalition encourages us to put aside our differences and together tackle climate change and protect what we love.

And they have a plan. A 10-point plan for a green recovery to be precise.

The plan, collaborated on together with 70 organizations. This plan sets out a program of action to get the UK on track to net-zero emissions and show global leadership despite the dismal display of leadership at last year’s COP 26. To read the Green Recovery 10-Point Plan, check out the link in the deeper dive section of this story at theclimate.org/episodes.

DEEPER DIVE: The Climate Coalition, Green Recovery 10-Point Plan

A VERY “NASA CLIMATE KIDS” VALENTINE’S DAY

On this Valentine’s Day, even NASA is getting into the act. If you’re looking for an eco-friendly, green way to celebrate with your children, NASA has got you covered.

It’s offering six downloadable Valentine’s Day cards, each a child-accessible way to discuss climate change and NASA’s role in monitoring its effects. They include “You Warm My Heart”—an intro to the Greenhouse Effect; “I choo-choo-Choose You”—a quick primer on NASA’s Earth-observing satellites; “I’ve Got My Eye on Some Special Treats for You, Valentine”—with a brief description of how NASA’s satellites measure soil moisture, rain and snowfall as well as plant health, too. We won’t spoil the fun by listing the other three here. Just head over to climatekids.nasa.gov/valentines to see the rest, and to download the half dozen.

Climate Kids is produced by the Earth Science Communications Team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.

NASA considers itself a world leader in climate studies and Earth science. NASA doesn’t set climate policy or prescribe particular responses or solutions to climate change. But part of its mission includes providing the robust scientific data needed to understand climate change. The space agency then makes this information available to the global community – the public, policy and decision-makers, and scientific and planning agencies around the world.

And that’s why it launched Climate Kids in 2010—to help educate the next generation of the public, policy and decision makers as well as scientists. The Climate Kids website tells the story of our changing planet through the eyes of the NASA missions studying Earth. Targeting upper-elementary-aged children, the site is full of games, activities and articles that make climate science accessible and engaging.

DEEPER DIVE: Climate Kids, NASA Climate