British Columbians are doing their part to go green for Earth Day.

The big push this year is for individuals to change their habits to fight climate change - an idea Premier Gordon Campbell supported at an environmental conference yesterday.

"Just as this is a human problem, it's been created by a lot of human activity, we can solve this problem with a lot of human activity," said Premier Campbell.

"We can solve this problem when each of us decides we're going to take some steps to change how we live, how we interact with the environment, what we are doing," said Campbell.

Following this commitment, Campbell announced legislation this morning to designate 11 new provincial parks.

He said the decision will build on existing safeguards to B.C.'s wilderness.

"Just last week, we planted the six billionth tree since reforestation programs began in B.C. over 70 years ago," Premier Campbell said.

The parks will add nearly 985,000 hectares to B.C.'s parks and protected areas.

Events are also being held across the Lower Mainland today to support green causes.

A 'Walk for Water' kicked off at nine o'clock this morning on Robson Street.

The goal of the nationwide event is to raise $150,000 to provide clean water to East Africans -- $12,000 coming from British Columbia.

The spirit of green continued at Leigh Elementary in Coquitlam, where students did their part to become carbon neutral.

To offset the logging from the nearby Burke Mountain development, children and parents raised funds to plant large trees to help reduce their environmental footprint.

Corporations are also making a push for green. Home Depot has announced all 166 of its Canadian locations will voluntarily remove traditional pesticides and herbicides from its shelves by the end of the year.

The company says it will replace the products with more environmentally friendly alternatives.

Other companies are making it easier to reduce your environmental footprint, starting right at breakfast.

Vancouver-based Ethical Bean opened its first carbon neutral caf� this morning at the Commercial Drive Skytrain station.

In honour of Earth Day, the company is offering 100% carbon neutral, fair trade, organic coffee - for free - to Skytrain riders.

The company only uses compostable to-go cups, and biodegradable cutlery. Bags and serviettes are made from recyclable materials as well.

But the move for green in B.C. isn't just limited to one day.

Many B.C. retailers are jumping on the green "bag-wagon" of giving their customers the option of going green all year round.

At Save-On-Foods stores, customers can bring in any plastic bag and exchange it for a reusable cloth bag at no extra cost.

It's part of a larger move to remove plastic bags all together. San Francisco has already banned them outright, and Ireland has a bag tax to limit their use.

Here in B.C., most representatives on the board of Metro Vancouver support some kind of restriction on bags.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Dag Sharman