michelle kaufmann designs

Today is the first day of April, which means there are only 21 more days until Earth Day 2008! On April 22nd we will celebrate the 38th annual Earth Day. The stunning success of the first Earth Day celebration back in 1970, now considered the anniversary of the modern environmentalist movement, eventually led to the creation of the EPA and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts. The celebration of Earth Day has grown ever since; it’s estimated that last year’s was the largest Earth Day ever, with over one billion people in thousands of locations worldwide having participated in the festivities.

This year, we’re hoping that Earth Day 2008 will inspire even more eco-conscious revelers to take part in the event. So we have come up with a few great, green do-it-yourself projects that are simple enough for anyone to do, though, as you’ll see, we had a few specific personalities in mind when we created them. They’re all about exploring fun ways to live more sustainably by finding new uses for materials in your life that might otherwise go to waste. We’ll show you how to transform something as seemingly useless as last month’s newspapers or old disposable chopsticks into stylish, eco-friendly pieces for your home and garden or, even better, thoughtful Earth Day gifts for friends and family.

The first of our five activities is the EcoBirdfeeder, the perfect Earth Day project for the animal lover meets treehugger or anyone with a ton of disposable chopsticks lying around. We’ll show you how to turn those old (hopefully washed!) chopsticks into beautiful birfeeders that are also eco-friendly since you’ll be reusing materials that would otherwise just get tossed out. Download the EcoBirdfeeder DIY Guide today!

Here are a few other design options that Cristina and Kelly from our studio came up with that you could try out when you make your own EcoBirdfeeder!

Then keep your eyes here for more fun, green DIY projects that we’ll be posting over the upcoming days to get you in the Earth Day spirit! Below is a little sneak preview of what’s to come. We’re going to show you how to make a lovely, energy saving WaterWall, Plantable Paper cards that put waste paper to good use, mkPockets for your iPod or iPhone that you can make from old jeans or denim jackets, and homemade Eco Candles made from renewable resources like soy or beeswax. Hopefully they’ll get you as excited for Earth Day as we are!