With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, we can all take more steps to help reduce waste and our footprint on the planet in order to create a more sustainable Valentine’s Day. Here are some tips for how to love the Earth while you’re loving each other (and yourselves!)

• Try to gift your partner or yourself experiences instead of physical things! This helps reduce how much waste you create, and can also be a great idea for people who prefer spending time together instead of stuff!
• Avoid single-use plastics: try not to buy cheap plastic mass-produced items from big box stores that are more than likely produced unethically and non-environmentally, and will most likely end up back in landfills. Plastic can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose if it ever does. It can also end up in waterways, damaging ecosystems across the planet. Plastics are also made in an environmentally destructive way, poisoning the planet with toxic runoff.
• Check your candy for palm oil! Many brands that are sold en masse contain palm oil, the farming of which has led to mass deforestation in many southern hemisphere regions, which then destroys homes for a very large quantity of Earth’s species, aiding in extinction.
• Support local when you can! Shopping local is one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint and therefore save the earth.

Valentine’s Day is a custom in our lives to spread kindness, love, and appreciation for those around us. Showing the same kindness, love, and appreciation to the planet is just as effortless! Try these tips out to create a more sustainable Valentine’s Day.