March Forth on March Fourth - It's Do SOMETHING Day

Every year, as March 4th rolls around, the date begs you to MARCH FORTH! and do something! To add to this beckoning call, this past Tuesday, I challenged you with my Hummingbird Project to extend this to an entire month of doing something.  Whether you are willing to do something for a day, or take the leap for the entire month, you may still be stuck wondering What should I do? I have been thinking about this kind of thing for awhile, so I am going to share with you some ideas I have,

Simple One-Day Acts to Do Alone or With Others

• Watch a documentary for a new perspective on something you are interested in. Here are some of my documentary experiences that can possibly help you with your decision:  
• Blue Gold:World Water Wars,  
• Fuel, The Future of Food and Food Matters, 
• Food, Inc., Tapped, King Corn, and No Impact Man, and  
• Dirt: The Movie

• Get in the kitchen. Get the whole family involved in learning about some new cooking technique, how to make your old recipes healthier, or just to rid your pantry of some evil ingredient (may I suggest high fructose corn syrup?). Here are some posts that may help you on your path:
• Vegetables Every Day,
• The Meatless Monday Experience,
• Vegetables: Raw or Cooked?,
•  Quinoa: The Mother Grain,
• Clean Eating Defined,
• Finding Healthy Recipes, and
• The Land O'Lakes Boycott

 What You Can Do With Just A Computer

• Watch (or Read) and share some inspirational/educational videos. Whether it is through the wide expanse of YouTube or you take a direct route to a worthy  organization's website (ie. TED), there is so much out there to absorb, share and enact change simply in the way we think. Here are some web videos I was moved by:
• Birke Baehr's TED talk and a peek at The Meatrix, 
•  The Perennial Plate 
• Small Ways to Make a Big Difference (a free eBook)

• Find a nonprofit that needs YOUR help (virtually or financially). One of the best actions you can take is to network with like-minded people around your cause - whether you join a mailing list, sign up for an event or have the means to donate, finding a way to Do Something may be easier than you think when you connect with the right groups. Here are some you may want to check out:
• FOOD BANK,
• Food & Water Watch, National Resources Defense Council, The Center for Food Safety,
• Organizations and Readings from the Changing the Way We Eat (ChWWE) Group

Long-Term Projects You Can Begin with Just One Step

• Composting. This is a project I am getting started on myself, so I am still learning, but I have found a couple of great resources to start out.
• Home Composting Made Easy
• Meet the Green Compost Episode

• Gardening. I am truly a novice when it comes to gardening. I should have picked up more tips from my mother when she was around... Alas, I must learn again (I'm really hoping that the things I learned as a child start to come back to me when I begin!). Here's a great resource that a fellow blogger, Brenna, pointed me to:
• Master Gardeners

And If You Are Ready to Build a TEAM of Do-ers 

• Build a Culture of Community Involvement. Meg Appleby of the How to Make a Difference blog and the Do Good blog has all the tips you need to get some volunteers to join your cause. Read her post How to Build a Culture of Community Involvement to see how!

I hope this gives you lots of ideas for March 4th's task to DO SOMETHING (and I really hope it inspires you Do Something every day! I look forward to reading how everyone spends their day.

...and don't forget to wear your action too! (I think this company is SO COOL!)