Happy (Equinoctial) Earth Day, everyone! This "original" Earth Day was set to coincide with the vernal equinox. It was later that year, 1970, that April 22 became an Environmental Teach In, or what we know today as Earth Day.

We thought we'd take the opportunity of one Earth Day to remind you about the other. The fact that green is a hot topic right now, we expect big things of this year's (April 22nd) Earth Day. Find out what is going on in your city, and how you can help.

This Earth Day let's all take the opportunity to really reach the message to new audiences, be it families with small children, young adults, or single professionals. We "greenies" seek out eco-friendly information. This Earth Day let's get the word out to people that might not have been looking so hard for it.

First, find out what events are being planned in your local area. Search the Earth Day Network or Envirolink's Earth Day list. These may not be complete, so if you don't find anything, check with your local government or environmental organizations and see if they are planning anything.

If you find an event, offer to help. Many of these events are created by grassroots organizations or groups that are stretched very thin. Maybe they need help finding local green companies and organizations for booths in an eco-village. Maybe they need help with PR. Perhaps they wanted to get a local school involved and haven't been able to tackle that yet. Or maybe they just need volunteers for the day of the event. So go on, offer to help! What most events will need are more hands and brains - and we know you've got that!

Now if you didn't have any luck finding an Earth Day event near you, consider starting on up! You've only got a month to go, so we would recommend to keep it a manageable scope, but you can do it. Check out the Earth Day Network's Earth Day in a Box, including an Organizer's Guide (pdf).

Happy Equinoctial Earth Day! Have fun and get involved!

Rebecca says: I am working on planning EarthFest, a big Earth Day celebration in the Miami area for Sunday, April 22. It is a big undertaking and we could use all of the help that we can get. Thus, today's Tip! I'm sure we're not the only ones. We're trying to take the opportunity to really push the limits of people's minds on how to reduce waste, and really inspire people to think about the most basic of actions. Can you do an 8 hour event in sunny Miami without water bottles? We hope to find a way.

Want to hear a tip on a certain topic? Have a tip to share? Suggest a tip and you may just see it soon as a Tip o' the Day!