Be smart, aware and active in support of environmental activities in New York City all month long

It’s easy to be green in New York City. With so many parks to visit, outdoor areas to cherish, and activities to remind ourselves, Earth Day and Earth Month are times to step back and reflect on the importance of our environment to our New York City life.

Ride a Bike, Take a Hike or Just Walk

Courtesy NYC Bike Maps

Take advantage of the city’s many bike lanes, bike paths and ride options to reduce your carbon footprint. NYC Bike Maps offers cycling information and free street, trail, park and greenway maps for exploring NYC’s extensive bike network.

Courtesy Central Park Conservancy

Exercise your mind and your body with a walk in the park. Get some fresh air as you stroll and look at the birds and flowers that surround you. Spring is a joyous time when bulbs give birth to colorful blooms, buds on trees turn pink and white, and birds re-emerge with beautiful song. Central Park has compiled a Virtual Guide to Spring to help plan your time. Or visit a less-familiar area – New York City has 124 park s with natural areas.

Courtesy Central Park Conservancy

If seeing all the beautiful tulips and daffodils has you smiling, make a tax-deductible donation to the Central Park Conservancy and they’ll plant more in your honor. You’ll get a certificate or ecard noting your important gift.

Join the Natural Areas Conservancy Team

The non-profit Natural Area Conservancy team restores and champions 20,000 acres of NYC’s forests and wetlands for the benefit of all. You can make environmental stewardship a part of your life by signing up for their informative newsletter. If hiking is your thing, a great way to give back to the city is by joining the Trail Maintainer Program. You’ll help with cleaning and positive planting to make the trails accessible to all.

Volunteer with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation

Courtesy New York City Parks Department

Central Park, Prospect Park, Pelham Bay Park, Forest Park and more – these wouldn’t be what they are without the devotion and care of the New York City Parks Department. You can join their ranks as a volunteer to help with planting programs in all five boroughs. There are many choices – you can focus on the parks, by the shore adding beach grass to create dunes at Coney Island or reverse damage from Sandy in Staten Island, or in your neighborhood planting street trees. You can help with wetlands, marshlands and forests as well.

Budget cuts, increased use of the parks and the constantly encroaching effects of climate change make caring for what we have all the more important today. New projects are scheduled every week. For April and May, you’ll see opportunities to plant trees in Marine Park in Brooklyn, Cunningham and Idlewild parks in Queens, and Goodhue Park in Staten Island.

Courtesy One Tree Planted

Visit One Tree Planted, an environmental charity that restores damaged ecosystems, for additional programs such as the partnership with Moxy NYC Times Square that plants trees in California to repair the destruction caused by wildfires. You can support OTP’s efforts by planting or gifting a tree during Earth Month throughout April.

Be Civic Minded

Courtesy New York Restoration Project

Take advantage of the many opportunities offered through the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), a non-profit group started by Bette Midler to transform open spaces in under-resourced communities. Your monetary and physical contributions are all needed to plant trees, renovate gardens, restore parks and add to the green spaces each neighborhood needs.

Courtesy Green Thumb

Part of the New York Parks Department programs, Green Thumb keeps the city’s community gardens vibrant with plantings and art. A perfect program for building your environmental awareness on Earth Day and giving back to the community, volunteering is needed year-round.

You don’t need to join a formal organization, though. You can assemble your own group of concerned, caring citizens and adopt a block, and they divvy up who takes care of what from mulching trees, to maintaining flowers, to picking up litter. There are many civic “brokers” that will help you create your own partnership for parks: this year’s early crocus plantings are living memorials to those lost through Covid-19, planted as much for their beauty as for their message of hope for the future.

Open Your Eyes to Environmentalism

“Who Takes Care of New York” Exhibit - Courtesy The Nature of Cities

Originally shown at the Queens Museum, the important “Who Takes Care of New York” exhibit lives on virtually. Spend some time reviewing its contents to understand what it takes to care for our natural resources. You can research many opportunities here for involvement through what are termed “acts of care stewardship,” caring and advocating for the environment.

NASA/NOAA/GOES Project - Courtesy American Museum of Natural History

On Earth Day, the American Museum of Natural History invites you to EarthFest, an all-day online celebration. Programming is designed for all ages with topics exploring climate science, conservation, the relationship between man and animal, and the impact of weather on the Earth.

Courtesy Paint and Sip LIVE

Paint and Sip LIVE celebrates Earth Day with a special class combining environmentalism with the arts and featuring a live DJ. The party will honor the holiday while spotlighting the impact of composting as a way to reduce the devastating effects of climate change. Twenty percent of the event’s proceeds will be donated to composting champion Earth Matter NY.