Celebrate Earth Day With Free Coffee

What is Earth Day?

Earth Day is a day to promote awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. It is on 22 April. It was founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisconsin) as an environmental teach-in in 1970 and is celebrated in many countries every year. The first Earth Day was in 1970. …

• Bing: Earth Day 2011 — A Billion Acts of Green

Free coffee is one of several free things you can get as we collectively pay homage to our planet and rededicate ourselves to protecting her health. Remember that not all stores participate in national deals, so you might want to call ahead first.

Here are details:

Bring a reusable tumbler or mug to Starbucks and get a free hot or iced brewed coffee or tea. Those without a mug can get a 20% discount on a Starbucks model. “What if you can’t bring in a mug and don’t want to buy a new one? That’s okay too,” Starbucks said on its website. “Just request your coffee or tea in one of our ‘for-here’ cups and we’ll pick up the tab.”

Starbucks also shared this eco fact:

“Although reusable serveware and tumbler use still only accounts for a small percentage of total beverages served, those of you who did bring in reusable mugs still made a significant impact. In 2010, people brought their own tumblers into our stores more than 32 million times, keeping nearly 1.45 million pounds of paper out of landfills.”

That’s a promising start. Another reason to bring your own mug: You get a 10-cent discount on Starbucks drinks any day of the week.

More Earth Day-related freebies:

Lowe’s is giving away 1 million free trees on Saturday, April 23. The giveaway, in partnership with American Forests, is on a first-come, first served basis, and we suspect a million trees will go fast. Scan the barcode on your tree with a mobile phone to watch a video on how to plant and care for it. It won’t help the Earth if you over- or underwater your tree and kill it. Lowe’s says:  “When planted, these one million trees will eventually produce more than 260,000,000 pounds of oxygen annually, providing air for more than 670,000 people for one year.”

A free reusable bag can be had from Kellogg’s with the proof of purchase from two boxes of cereal. You’ll need to use this form (.pdf file). There’s a limit of five bags per household.

Also, national parks that normally charge admission are free this week through Sunday, April 24.

We should take care of OUR earth each and every day.  These earth day offerings are a great example of the little things we can do to forward the cause.