From Gratitude to Action: Simple Ways to Care for Our Planet This September

September offers several opportunities to do something good for the planet, but perhaps the bigger invitation is simpler than any date on the calendar: pay attention to the world around us and consider how we are caring for it.

Gratitude for the Earth is wonderful. Action inspired by that gratitude is even better.

This month, the Earth Gratitude Project is encouraging people around the world to participate in environmental events, learn from organizations working to protect the planet, and consider the everyday choices that can collectively make a difference.

You don't have to change your entire life overnight. You don't have to be perfect. You simply have to begin somewhere.

Celebrate 30 Years of the Pachamama Alliance

On Saturday, September 12, the Pachamama Alliance celebrates its 30th anniversary with a livestream event from 12 to 2 p.m. Pacific Time.

For three decades, the organization has worked alongside Indigenous leaders and communities in the Amazon rainforest to protect the rainforest and advance a more sustainable and equitable world. The Pachamama Alliance is also a contributor to the Earth Gratitude Project.

Anniversaries like this give us an opportunity not only to celebrate what has been accomplished, but also to ask what becomes possible when people remain committed to something for the long term.

World Cleanup Day: September 20

World Cleanup Day is Sunday, September 20, 2026.

You don't necessarily need to participate in a huge organized event to make the day meaningful. Pick up litter in your neighborhood. Walk a local beach or trail with a trash bag. Invite your family to clean up a favorite park. Look around your own property and see what needs attention.

It's easy to think one person picking up a few pieces of trash doesn't matter.

But imagine millions of people deciding that the small area around them matters.

That's how individual action becomes collective action.

World Car-Free Day: September 22

Tuesday, September 22 is World Car-Free Day, another opportunity to reconsider some of the routines we rarely question.

Could you walk somewhere you would normally drive? Ride a bike? Take public transportation? Carpool? Combine several errands into one trip?

For some people, going completely car-free isn't practical, and that's okay. The point doesn't have to be perfection. It can simply be awareness.

Sometimes changing a habit begins by noticing it.

Take the 21-Day Earth Gratitude Challenge

The Earth Gratitude Project is also inviting people to participate in its complimentary 21-Day Earth Gratitude Challenge, which offers ideas for turning appreciation for our planet into personal sustainability practices.

I particularly love the combination of gratitude and action.

Gratitude asks us to notice.

Notice the tree outside your window. The food growing from the ground. The ocean. The birds. The changing seasons. The clean water coming from the faucet. The places we hike, swim, walk, play, garden, explore, and call home.

Then ask yourself a different question:

How am I caring for the things I'm grateful for?

That's where gratitude becomes something more.

Small Actions Still Matter

Environmental issues can feel enormous. Climate change, pollution, deforestation, waste, habitat loss, and threats to wildlife are much larger than any one person.

That can make it tempting to believe our individual choices don't matter.

But change has rarely worked that way.

One person acts. Another notices. A family changes a habit. A classroom starts a project. A neighborhood organizes a cleanup. A company changes a practice. A community decides something matters.

The ripple grows.

This September, consider choosing one thing.

Walk instead of driving when you can. Pick up litter. Reduce something you regularly throw away. Plant something. Support an organization doing good work. Teach a child why taking care of the Earth matters. Spend an afternoon outside without looking at your phone every five minutes.

Or simply begin by noticing the extraordinary planet we get to call home.

Because gratitude isn't only saying thank you.

Sometimes gratitude is how we take care of what we've been given.

Looking Ahead to Earth Day 2027

The environmental conversation will continue well beyond September. Earth Day will be celebrated on April 22, 2027, with the theme Food for Our Planet™ included among the upcoming initiatives shared by the Earth Gratitude Project.

Between now and then, we have thousands of opportunities to make choices that reflect the kind of world we want to leave behind.

Not perfectly.

Not all at once.

But together.

Perhaps this month, choose one small way to show the Earth a little gratitude.

The Earth Gratitude Project invites participants to share what they're doing using #EarthGratitude and to connect with the project on social media.

About Earth Gratitude

The Earth Gratitude Project was co-created by author Natalie Pace, author of The ABCs of Money and The Power of 8 Billion: It's Up to Us. The project brings together voices and organizations from around the world to encourage greater harmony with nature and offers free educational resources and its 21-Day Earth Gratitude Challenge.

About Earth Gratitude

Earth Gratitude is a global storytelling and education project dedicated to inspiring a deeper relationship with the planet through gratitude, connection, and action. The initiative features a free five-part docuseries, short films, VIP interviews, eBooks, and community challenges highlighting individuals and organizations creating positive change around the world. Its content is designed to be accessible, practical, and inspiring for individuals, families, educators, and communities.

Topics explored in Earth Gratitude include eco-conscious education (including student gardens), everyday sustainability, food and health, animals and conservation, and the role of gratitude in personal and collective well-being. https://earthgratitude.org/

Earth Gratitude contributors include:

H.M. King Charles III (when he was The Prince of Wales), H.H. The Dalai Lama, H.M. Queen Diambi Kabatusuila Tshiyoyo Muata, Sia, Ed Begley Jr., Wangari Maathai, Arianna Huffington, Alice Waters, EARTHDAY.ORG, Kiss the Ground, The Pachamama Alliance, WildlifeDirect, Josh and Rebecca Tickell and many more.

Learn more about Earth Gratitude, access free resources, and join the Earth Gratitude Challenge at www.earthgratitude.org.