BUILD A GREENER FUTURE
Recently I saw a pre-teen girl wearing a t-shirt with the words: “Save the planet. It’s the only one with bubble gum.”
The t-shirt made me smile, but the fact that our planet is in critical condition and absolutely needs to be saved is no laughing matter. As parents, it’s up to us to pass on valuable life lessons to our children. One of these lessons should be to teach them to be green so that they will continue taking care of the earth as they grow up.
Here are 10 steps you and your family can take together:
- Get outdoors Kids have to love nature if they want to protect it. Go for a family walk or bike ride and talk about what you see. Bring along a garbage bag and some gloves and pick up trash along the way. Encourage your children to take photos and draw pictures of their favorite spots in nature and turn them into a scrapbook.
- Buy local Visit local farmers’ markets and have the kids select fresh produce. Explain that buying local saves on emissions because the food has a shorter distance to travel to get to your table. It's healthier for the family and the environment! Check our Guide to Farmers’ Markets all over Kansas City.
- Make reusable bags Did you know it takes 1,000 years for plastic grocery bags to break down in landfills? Sure, you can buy inexpensive reusable bags at many stores, but your kids will enjoy making some too. Buy canvas bags at a craft store – or sew your own – and let your kids decorate them with fabric pens. Keep the bags in your car as reminders to use them when you shop.
- Write a letter Teach your children that every voice counts, no matter how small. Perhaps your son is worried about water pollution or your daughter is concerned about a particular endangered animal. Have them write to local leaders, corporations, even the president, expressing their concerns and suggesting ways to help.
- Reduce If every person in America used one fewer napkin a day for a year, we could fill the Empire State Building with the napkins we saved. Teach your kids to use fewer napkins and paper towels and reduce the use of paper plates and plastic utensils, which often end up in landfills. Eating at fast food restaurants less often will help reduce waste too.
- Reuse Before you toss that empty cereal box or jar into the recycle bin, think of creative crafts or toys your children can make with it. Plastic milk jugs can be cut and decorated to become a pretty flower pot. Jars can be used as pencil holders, and small boxes can double as building blocks. Ask your kids if they can think of creative uses for specific items before you toss them.
- Recycle Explain to your kids that every can and bottle they throw in the trash just sits in a dump if we don’t recycle. Help them distinguish items that can be recycled. We turn this into a fun game at our house, and our 6-year-old loves finding recyclables and carrying them to the bin in the garage. Visit www.RecycleSpot.org to locate recycling centers in the Kansas City area.
- Donate Periodically have your children gather outgrown clothes and toys to donate to a thrift shop or charity. Kids are often generous with their belongings when they know they are going to someone less fortunate. Donating goods results in less clutter in your home and less waste in landfills.
- Plant a garden. Knowing that your veggies come from the backyard rather than a field hundreds of miles away—full of pesticides and who knows what else—is a great feeling. If you don’t have the room for a garden, or it’s a bigger undertaking than you want to tackle, try a few potted herbs or tomato plants.
- Talk about it Focus on being aware and talking to your kids about environmental issues. Explain why gas-guzzling vehicles and littering are bad for the environment. Set a good example by “going green” as a family. Have each family member pledge to do something, anything, each day to protect the earth and make it a healthier place to live. Soon, building a greener future will be a way of life.
Check out these kid-friendly websites focusing on going green:
Features Johnson County’s Buddy the Recycler, coloring pages, games and puzzles.
Missouri Department of Conservation site includes stories, games, and info on Missouri’s wildlife.
Highlights include art and science areas, comic books, games and interactive storybooks.
Tisha Foley and her husband teach their children to be green from their home in Belton.