Earth Day checklist: five simple things you can do to make a difference

Celebrating Earth Day on 22 April is nice, but is one day truly enough? Madeleine Somerville describes five small lifestyle shifts that will make a big impact

One of the questions I receive most frequently from readers is whether our individual actions truly make a difference. If you choose to recycle, compost, carpool, reduce consumption and refuse plastic bags, does it have an effect? Does it matter at all? Will it do anything to eliminate the Great Pacific garbage patch?

The answer is yes.