Tell your brother to get out of the shower. Save water.

It was the mid-1980s and our cable provider in Western New York included New York City’s WPIX, a channel that my brother and I watched endlessly.

I distinctly remember a Public Service Announcement about water conservation, with the line, spoken in a thick New York City accent, that urged people to take shorter showers.

I’ve been thinking about that line recently as I retreat to the bathroom and take too-long hot showers to escape the anxiety of the day, release the tension in my neck, and find a bit of solace from the constant news my father-in-law has blaring in the center of the house.

That commercial was part of my introduction to environmentalism. I always was drawn to nature and the outdoors and anything I could do to help, I wanted to. Although I never think I actually told my brother to ever get out of the shower. At least not in the name of saving water.

I’m not an expert and most of my knowledge comes from lived experience and self-education. And while I completely believe that individual actions can have big impacts, big business is a much bigger culprit in abusing resources and creating waste than my household.

Still, I have hope that small changes create big changes. As someone who has been a vegetarian for nearly 20 years, I can tell you that the availability and variety of plant-based products and organic produce has exponentially increased. While I’m sure there are a variety of reasons behind it, demand is certainly something which catches the attention of the business world. If there’s a market for it, someone will make it, or grow it, or stock it. So as more people wanted organic produce, regular old grocery stores started carrying it. Same thing with healthier-for-the-planet cleaning supplies, shampoos, and food storage containers.

Today marks the 50th Earth Day and we’re stuck in our homes, unable to gather together to celebrate nature, to rally to protect it, and to go out and help clean it.

There’s a saying that goes charity starts at home, and well, that’s the only place where things can start these days for the majority of us. So today, I celebrate environmentalism right where I am.

There are a million little ways in which we can make a difference. Our seemingly small choices add up. In recent years, my biggest desire has been to cut down on the food waste we produce. I’m not the best at using all the parts of the vegetables, but I have gotten better at freezing excess produce or make soups, stews, various baked goods before perishables, well perish.

I call it my “homesteading days.” Carrots usually end up on my homesteading list as I end up not using the entire bunch immediately. So I carve out some time to put on a podcast or a Spotify playlist and wash, peel, chop, and freeze. I’ve made apple butter in the fall to preserve the best autumn flavor there is. (Sorry, pumpkin spice.) I’m eager to try canning tomatoes this summer.

This mandated pause in our lives during the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed me to look at some of the other ways I could be kinder to the environment. It’s shown me some of the holes in my own behavior, not so much for me to “fix” them, but for me to acknowledge them. The more I’m aware of my actions, the more power I have to make thoughtful decisions. And many decisions (perhaps all decisions) come with tradeoffs.

I’ve looked for ways to reduce and reuse before the need to recycle even comes into play. I’ve become a huge fan of the online secondhand store ThredUp and I search out other ways to give new life to older things. I’ve been more purposeful in my purchases in an effort to create less waste.

My actions will never be perfect. But I persist. Small choices, amplified enough times, have big impacts.