April 11 through 17 is National Environmental Education Week. At the event’s official website, you can subscribe to news, download toolkits, connect through social networks, find your local nature center, and spread the word about environmental education.

If the environment is important to you and your friends and family, you might want to consider going further and taking part in any of these activities throughout the week as well:

Ask your local school district to make environmental education a part of its curriculum. See if every grade level has some type of environmental coverage within the classroom. Ask if there’s a recycling program and if there’s not one see about getting one started.

Send the Nestle Company a message to stop destroying critical orangutan habitat through Greenpeace. Educate yourself and your family about the process involved in acquiring palm oil, the environmental impact, and the alternatives.

Offer to give talks about any environmental subjects you know well at the local school, college, library, or other facility. Teach how to compost, recycle, or even build a birdhouse.

Plant a tree or two or several. Many places, such as local libraries, are giving out free trees for Earth Day. Look around to see if you can find any deals in your area.

Organize a park clean up in your community. Meet your fellow community members and make friends. Discuss other important local environmental issues that might be of interest to you all that you may wish to act upon. Other options might be the community garden, highways, or other areas.

Find new uses for old things this week. What can you make out of your milk jug, egg carton, or pizza box? Better yet, see which things you could do without for the week. How long can you make things last? Which things could you really stop purchasing?

Give up the bottled water habit. Try your own tap water, or invest in a purifier (which will save you money as well).

Learn all you can about organic food, buying locally, and growing your own vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Try starting your own garden, or creating a community plot for the whole neighborhood to work on and share together. Visit your local farmer’s market and see what goodies you can find.

Buy reusable shopping bags made out of cotton or canvas and use them instead of plastic at the store. Give up disposable bags (as well as any other disposable purchases, such as paper plates or utensils).