As we enter into warmer months, we’d like to encourage our community to harness the healing power of nature by practicing wellness outdoors and giving back. So we’ve rounded up three of our favorite ways to use nature for wellness, each accompanied by an action that supports the Earth in return. We’ll also be dressing the part with Columbia Sportswear’s 100% compostable Break It Down T-Shirt—it’s the perfect eco-conscious uniform! At the current rate of deforestation, we’re losing about 30 soccer fields’ worth of forest a minute. That means the 1.6 billion people around the world who depend on forests for their livelihoods are in trouble. Deforestation also contributes to global warming1, threatens biodiversity, throws off rainfall and weather patterns, and limits our access to the plants that provide us with as many as 120 prescription drugs worldwide. For the Earth: Donate to an environmental organization. While any environmental organization will do, this year we’re joining in Columbia’s fight to protect our forests by donating to Conservation International. Columbia has set their own goal of helping to protect 1.7 million trees by 2027—let’s make that one, two, three-plus trees more by donating here. For the Earth: Plant a tree. Conserving our forests is priority No. 1, but planting a tree is another important step in the right direction. Not only do trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen so that we can breathe, but they also help to prevent climate change and provide a net cooling effect, per tree, equivalent to 10 room-size air conditioners operating for 20 hours a day. For the Earth: Pick up trash along the way. Whether you pack a trash bag and a pick-up stick to collect trash along your hike or volunteer at an organized Cleanup, show some love for our planet by tidying up our mess. As the old saying goes, let’s leave it cleaner than how we found it! Ryan is passionate about holistic health, fitness, and spiritually-centered living. She loves using her knowledge and personal experience to help others improve their well-being. When she’s not working or studying, Ryan can be found traveling to new places, snuggling her dog, or experimenting with gluten free, vegan baking.
