Sustainable Bucket List for Spring: 18 Eco-Friendly Activities to Do This Spring

The garden at the Indianapolis Museum of Art in mid-April

I have claimed that autumn is my favorite season, but why should I need to choose one and organize them in a hierarchy? All four seasons have their own magical qualities, even though I admit I might think this way because living in Miami, each season’s most notorious characteristics are softened and lightened, and none are extreme, like it happens in the northernmost countries or in the northern U.S. states. Here, we never have to suffer the most extreme snow conditions, for instance. Our summers are hot, but we have the beach to ease it, and our winters allow us to spend time outside without ever being unmotivated by the cold. A 60 F degree day will make Floridians put on their coats and boots for the ultimate chance at wearing layers and acting as if seasons do exist in their realities. Spring and Autumn have an undeniable charm because it is where we all converge, regardless of where we live. They are a point of reunion for all cities, a beautiful in-between, the democratization of weather.

Now that spring has begun in the northern hemisphere (or you might be reading this a few months from now, when spring starts in your country), I think it’s the perfect opportunity to post this sustainable bucket list for spring, with a list of eco-friendly activities you can do to enjoy this season, without hurting the environment, or even helping it. Let’s go!

ACTIVITIES TO ENJOY SUSTAINABLY IN SPRING

1. Go Morel hunting

This is a great way to spend some time outdoors. You can do it with your family or friends and make it a game. Morels are wild mushrooms that grow in spring and are found by foraging. Make sure you know beforehand exactly how they look like, or you go with an experienced forager, so you don’t end up picking up the wrong mushrooms, like the so-called ‘false morels’ (some aren’t edible and even poisonous). Morels are rich in Vitamin D and B, among other nutrients, and are a great incorporation to your plant-based meals. Collect them in a flat box, mesh bag, or a basket, because they will go bad in a plastic bag (also, for environmental reasons, avoid plastic bags at all).

A morel

2. Visit a rose garden or botanical garden

In Miami we have the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, and even the beautiful Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Coral Gables, to spend some time walking amid the blooming flowers. In both gardens you will see a lot of orchids, some of which bloom in the spring. In case you don’t live in South Florida, you can visit your local botanical or rose garden, or travel to one in a near city (make it a Saturday road-trip!). This is a great way to appreciate spring’s most precious gift: flowers.

3. Get involved in an Earth Day event

April 22nd is Earth Day, a day that celebrates and encourages environmental activism. As it is a special day, there are events in hundreds of cities that promote environmental action. An example of an event you can attend is a clean-up near you, which you can find in Earth’s Day website. You can also organize your own clean-up with your friends, family or your company, a great way of contributing something good to this beautiful planet.

4. prepare a picnic outdoors

Gather your friends, or do it solo, a picnic is a perfect way of soaking up the sun, hearing the birds sing excitedly about spring, breathing some fresh air, and perhaps catching up on your book, or coloring. To make it sustainable, make it a plant-based picnic (maybe you find some practical recipe here), and make sure to take your reusable cutlery, plates, and glasses.

5. Relish the blooming trees

This is my favorite thing about spring, no doubts. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, I counted the days till November–late spring–to go downtown and see the beautiful jacarandas in bloom. The streets turn purple during that month, and it is one of the most breathtaking experiences you can have. This will depend on where you live and what kind of trees you have there. For instance, if you live in Washington DC, you can enjoy the blooming Cherry Blossoms that surround the Tidal Basin and cover it in pink. Other trees bloom in spring: the Pear Tree, the Japanese Magnolia, or the Flowering Dogwood, to name a few.

6. Plant flowers

Okay, yes, I mentioned the word ‘blooming’ a thousand times already, but how couldn’t I if that’s the very definition of spring? A great way to spread some spring love is to plant flowers in your garden or put some pots with beautiful flowers in your balcony, which won’t only look pretty and improve your mood, they will also help the bee community! Bees are crucial for the existence of this world, as they are pollinators, they enable food production, keep biodiversity, and preserve ecological balance. By planting a variety of annual flowers, perennials, and flowering trees, we provide bees with nectar and pollen, which worker bees will collect to feed their entire colonies. Make sure to plant native plants.

A happy Rookie amid the hydrangeas in Chile

7. Enjoy sports outdoors

Spring is a colorful grey area between hot and cold weathers, which means it provides the perfect opportunity to do outdoor sports, like running or cycling, without struggling to catch your breath or without wearing a parka. In Miami, the afternoons get longer. Personally, I have more time after I leave work at five, to spend time outdoors and still see the light of day. Going for a run when the sun is still out is a great change from the winter panorama, when I went for a ran at night, which makes me sleepy, specially after a long day at work. Training outdoors during the day is certainly a spring perk that needed to be mentioned. This way, you also spend more time in nature, or breathing some fresh spring air carrying the scents of jasmine and petrichor, which is the scent of rain as it hits the ground.

8. Plan a Sustainable Spring Break Vacation

If you have a spring break vacation, you can plan an eco-friendly trip! You might find some useful tips in my sustainable travel section of the blog. Travelling locally is preferable, if it is an option for you, otherwise using the train, the bus, or even carpooling is better than flying. We don’t have many options for moving around sustainably, especially in some countries or towns that don’t offer public transportation. However, you can do sustainable activities, eat out at vegan restaurants, buy at the farmer’s market, skip the souvenirs, move around with the bike or subway, walk to get to know the place you are going to, and try enjoying your trip slowly and avoiding take-away. Sit down for a good cup of coffee in a mug and enjoy some quiet time, instead of ordering your coffee to-go (or if you do, take your own reusable cup). There are many ways in which you can make your vacation more sustainable, even if it is just a little bit. Every small change adds up!

9. Eat Seasonal Veggies

A change of seasons means a change in colors and shapes in your fridge. Seasonal fruits and veggies will depend on where you are located, but some popular spring seasonals are artichokes, wild arugula, asparagus, dandelion greens, fava beans, fiddleheads, green garlic, grapefruit, kale, kiwis, lemons, lettuce, parsley, peas, radishes, spring onions, strawberry (peak season April through June), and turnips, among others.  Whenever possible, buy them at your local farmers market, to make your purchase even more sustainable.

10 . Go nettle or ramp hunting

Besides morel hunting, you can go nettle and ramp hunting! Nettle (also called stinging nettle) is a plant with pointed leaves and white to yellowish flowers, that looks a bit like mint. They can be found near water or wetlands, and its stings will hurt and linger. You must wear gloves, long sleeves, and pants to for its foraging, and bring kitchen shears and a paper bag or basket. Before consumption, they must be processed to remove the formic acid that causes the sting. Learn carefully about this technique before you do it.

Ramps, on the other side, are wild leeks that are only available for a very short period during springtime, and that taste similar to onion, but with a distinct pungent flavor. With ramps, or with any kind of foraging really, you must be careful with poisonous look-alikes.

11. Go birdwatching

Spring is a migration season for birds, when birds return to the Northern hemisphere after spending the winter in a warmer place. In spring, birds gather in large groups, which makes it easy to see them, and therefore, a perfect season for birdwatching. If you don’t already have one, you can buy a book on birds, so you can study them and detect them in the wild. An idyllic opportunity to spend time outdoors and connect with nature through the admiration of these wonderful creatures.

12. Avoid buying bouquets

Spring season may mean flowers, but it shouldn’t mean bouquets. Although the purchases for bouquets spike in Holidays outside of the spring season, like St. Valentine’s, they are sold year-round and specific dates in springtime like Mother’s Day. The bouquet industry is a huge one, and not a very sustainable one. They require a lot of resources to be grown and transported, and up to 80% of the 5.6 billion stems of flowers sold in the U.S. are imported. They are loaded with chemicals, including aldicarb and methyl parathion, one of the most toxic organophosphates pesticides. Preserving them requires refrigerated warehouses that use incredible amounts of energy. The bouquets then are most frequently packed in plastic, not to mention they only last a few days.

If you really want to give the gift of flowers, a more sustainable approach would be to buy local flower seeds or give flowers in a pot, that can last, and can be planted in the garden or placed in the balcony, which may help with one of my sustainable activities mentioned above–putting out flowers for bees. In case you do end up buying flowers bouquets, make sure to compost them afterwards, or dry them before they rot, and use the petals as decoration or bookmarks.

13. Visit a National Park

Visiting a national park, or even a local park, will always be on my list. Mid-seasons are, to me, the perfect time to do so. In autumn, most parks turn orange and yellow, an incredible sight that will give you the peace and inner quiet your soul so badly craves. In spring, most parks are suffused with wildflowers: Joshua Tree, The Smoky Mountains, Grand Teton, among many others. But, if you don’t live near a National Park, you can also go to any local park, or just go to the local botanical or rose garden.

14. Make your spring cleaning a sustainable affair

Spring is the blooming season, both literally and metaphorically. Flowers and trees bloom, but it is also a season of new beginnings. That is why a lot of people see spring as an excellent occasion to do some in-depth cleaning. To make it a sustainable activity, try to use eco-friendly ingredients. Even better, just use a combination of these 4 sustainable ingredients you can use to clean your home.

On the other hand, if this spring cleaning also involves tidying up or decluttering your closet, rethink before you do it. It is a positive thing to only own clothes you wear, as most of the garments in our wardrobe are rarely or never worn. Nonetheless, spring cleaning isn’t an excuse to get rid of clothes you bought and used two or three times, and then buying again garments you will donate in a year. Use it as a chance to become conscious of your choices. First, don’t throw away the clothes you are discarding. Swap them with friends or give it to them or upcycle them. Donating is never the most sustainable choice, as most of the clothes we donate end up in the landfill, and some are even incinerated. To avoid this, invest in timeless garments from sustainable clothing brands or secondhand stores, and take good care of them.

15. Go Berry picking and bake a vegan strawberry shortcake

Spring is a great time for berries, these delicious fruits that offer a lot of nutrients and flavors, not to mention baking opportunities. Check your area for local organic farms where you can go berry picking, and then come home and use them in your baking. Blueberry pie or strawberry shortcake are just two ideas (to make it sustainable, make it plant-based!), but you can also eat them with a chia pudding, or freeze them to use in smoothies or smoothie bowls.

16. Check outdoor activities with your city

During springtime, the cities usually offer a wide range of outdoor activities for everyone to enjoy. From outdoor movies to concerts-by-the-beach, they are great activities to spend time outside, but also to build a sense of community with your city, and maybe spend some quality time with friends and family.

17. Plant Herbs

Whether you live in a house or in an apartment, spring is the season to plant and grow herbs. You can start planting them in early spring, although if you are doing so, be sure to start with herbs that can survive some days of temperature fluctuation (which can still happen in the earlier days of the season), like cilantro, lemon balm, or dill. There is no better sensation than preparing a homecooked dinner with herbs you grew yourself. They will add flavor to your meals, as well as a lot of nutritional benefits.

18. Connect to the ground

Connecting to the ground may help us all become more conscious and caring beings. There is just something about walking barefoot on the grass, that makes us become one with earth, a necessary symbiosis to understand how taking care of it is our inherent duty. The grass turns greener during spring, and your feet are probably suffocated from wearing winter shoes, so why not go to a park or your garden, and walk barefoot, maybe a coffee in hand.

You could also take a book and sit under a tree to read. Connecting with trees means coming together with the ground, as these wonderful plants are blended with the earth through their amazing network of roots, and they provide us with oxygen, environmental stability, and peace of mind, among many other qualities.

Hi, I’m Melina,

I’m the creator of Sustainable Rookie, and my goal is to share what I learn throughout my sustainability journey, so that I can help other people live a more conscious life.

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