For most of us, September 21^st is the day when we welcome the fall and look back with nostalgia to those summer days spent by the pool. It’s the day that ask us to get our leaf blowers ready and our fireplaces in shape for the colder months. But since 2008, more and more people are using that same date to spread a simple yet very important message: “let’s give our planet one day off a year.” In other words, they are celebrating Zero Emissions Day.

Promoted as a “Global 24 hour Moratorium on the use of Fossil Fuels”, Zero Emissions Day invites everybody to reflect on the current state of our planet, what we’re doing to save it and how much more we need to do in the future. Basically, this day poses itself as an opportunity to start realizing how much you can do for the environment and how little everyday actions can get you very far.

The same people behind the day’s creation have also shared a set of guidelines everyone can follow to celebrate this day. These 4 things can look pretty simple and minimal but, hey, remember that’s all about action and reflection. Those 4 actions are:

1. Don’t use or burn oil or gas or coal.
2. Minimize (or eliminate) your use of electricity generated by fossil fuels.
3. Don’t put anyone in harm’s way: All essential and emergency services operate normally.
4. Do your best, have fun, enjoy the day!

The thick of it can be found on the first two actions but you might be wondering how you can live a normal day following those rules. It’s easier than you think! Bike to work, use only essential lights, start planning your conversion to solar – use your imagination (or just follow these 7 tips to cut your CO2 emissions). As an extra, don’t forget to tell your friends and family about Zero Emissions Day – the more we are, the stronger the message becomes!

Finally, it’s worth remembering something else. A day like Zero Emissions Day is fantastic and we should honor it every year but it’s worthless if we can’t take the actions from that day and follow them all year long. We can’t create a better world in just a day, we need to work on a daily basis for a change for better. So, let’s think of this September 21^st  as the “fall of our old ways” and the beginning of a new way to live in our dear planet, shall we?