I think that kids can make a difference in the world by cleaning up litter and telling everyone they know to help the environment. Kids can try and get permission to put up posters saying “We can all help the environment by cleaning up litter.” This can promote kids to make a difference in the world and build their character at the same time! If we all can make a difference in the world it will be a better place.
- Chandler, age 9
From Mesa, Arizona
How cool is that? When I was his age I thought litter was a group of newborn puppies! I think it’s great that children of all ages are becoming more aware and are concerned about the environment. I also think it’s our responsibility to help keep them motivated and to help educate them since our generation is partly responsible for the mess we are in. The thing I love about their ideas are that thye are simple BUT make sense, so…
Start simple and lead by example but more importantly explain why! Tell your children why you have changed to CFL light bulbs, why you recycle, why you buy organic pasta, why you bought a Green Path Organic cotton tote bag (ha, ha), why you do whatever you do to live a greener lifestyle. They are smarter than we think and they learn from our actions and they will learn faster when we tell them the reason for what we are doing.
Another thing you can do to help them Grow Up Green is to take them to a Farmers Market once a month. All you have to do is do a Google or Yahoo search for Farmers Markets in you area and I’ll bet you can find one near you. You can probably even find an Organic Farmers Market close by and you are not only helping the local economy but also cutting down on carbon emissions by buying local. Plus it will be fun!
You can also help them start a garden or plant flowers or a tree. It’s a great way to teach them about the benefits of growing their own food or how flowers help bees make honey or how trees help clean the air. We have a two year old granddaughter and she loves being outside at our cabin in the mountains and loves strawberries so we are going to help her plant her own strawberry plants over Memorial Day weekend.
There are so many benefits to getting kids involved the least of which is that we spend time with them and maybe we can learn something from them.
4 Comments
Hi there! I love your blog! I am part of a company called Bonobo Kids and we are working to get kids involved in conservation and saving the environment through teaching them about the bonobos. My partners wrote an amazing book called ‘I’m Lucy: a Day in the Life of a Young Bonobo’ - and we are selling the book on the site - all proceeds go to Jane Goodall’s youth organization and the Bonobo Conservation Initiative…
Our site is about to grow dramatically with an interactive ‘green score card’ that kids and school classes and families can do together - winning points to donate money to zoos and nonprofits, canvas reusable bags, etc…
Anyway (sorry, I’m so excited about it all, I can’t stop yapping!) - I’m looking for cool green people to guest blog and to feature on our blog…check it all out and let me know what you think!
www.bonobokids.com
www.bonobokids.com/blog
Thanks so much!
Julie
That is awesome! Ho wonderful!
Um, that was supposed to be How wonderful!
Hey! I agree its important to emphasize sustainability to kids for our future. If we can promote good habits (recycling, composting, etc.) we’ll be helping the future environment! I was browsing through a bunch of green websites and blogs and I came across yours and found it very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like the daily green, ecorazzi and earthlab.com. I especially like EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). I find it really easy to use (it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any others you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites (let me know if they are the same as mine).