Great Ideas to Get your Kids on a Permanent Earth Friendly Kick
Teaching children to respect and appreciate this beautiful planet Earth will insure that future generations are empowered to take the actions needed to remain environmentally conscientious. Here are some fun and practical ideals to be sure the legacy of responsibility continues.
Plan a day to clean up the neighborhood, including the parks. Ask many friends to help out too. Have plenty of garbage bags ready for the clean up. This same plan can be used to have a clean up day at school. It can be fun to create posters and have contests with an environmental theme. Have these posters placed at nearby businesses to spread the word.
Help parents to choose plants and trees to place in the yard to create shade which will be helpful in cooling the home, as well as provide cleaner air. Grow a vegetable garden too. Start a compost pile to help with fertilization of the planting. Tell parents about using organic pesticides, such as the ones made from orange extract. Water the garden in the early morning to safe on water.
When shopping with parents, always look for symbols that state the product has been recycled. Use recyclable packaging and encourage the rest of the family to stay away from products that have excessive packaging. Buying everyday necessities in bulk supply is a great way to decrease package waste. Share the idea of the three R’s with the family: Recycle, reuse and reduce.
Ask parents to start using reusable cotton bags to bring home groceries. Plastic bags are a huge problem for the environment. Every year hundreds of thousands of marine mammals such as sea turtles and whales die from eating discarded plastic bags. Plastic bags are not biodegradable, instead then break down into smaller toxic bits that contaminate the soil and waterways, which endanger many animals. If it is necessary to purchase six-packs of soda, always take the extra time to cut the plastic rings into pieces, as they can pose dangers to raccoons, possums, and small animals with strangulation. It is estimated that each year 500 billion plastic bags are consumed worldwide. That comes out to over one million per minute. Billions end up as litter. In the United States, the estimated cost to retailers is $4 billion (100 billion bags). In Africa, plastic bags that have been blowing in the wind are so common that a young industry has sprung up harvesting bags and using them to weave hats, and even bags.
Instead of taking a bus or car to school, if possible, use a bicycle or walk. Ride and walk with a friend and be sure the route is safe; have friendly homes or businesses along the way in case assistance is needed.
When you leave a room in the house be sure to turn off all the lights, fans and the television. Remind siblings to do the same. Help your parents look through the home for leaky faucets and toilets, then help them fix them. While washing your face and brushing
teeth, do not leave the water running. Turn it off until needed for rinsing. Take quick showers. Use less water when doing household chores; use a broom instead of the hose for cleaning the porch, sidewalks, driveway. Save water by asking parents to wash the car less often, and remind them that it will save them money too. Another way for parents to save money is by raising the thermostat a few degrees in the summer and lower it in the winter. This will save energy. When the sun is out and strong, lower the window blinds to keep the heat out of the house. Open them up in the winter months. Replace air filters often to aid in more efficient heating and cooling
Recycling – Enough to Protect the Environment?
Is recycling enough to save the planet? We have all heard how important it is to recycle, and it is true. Every little bit that all of us do to save the earth matters. But is recycling enough to protect the environment? Can it really make a difference? The short answer is yes; recycling can definitely make a difference, although much more can also be done. But still, recycling is still a very good idea if you really want to make a difference in the environment, especially at a local level.
Recycling is often called the recycling solution because the idea of recycling represents a kind of obvious solution to the problem of solid waste disposal. In this sense, then, recycling is definitely an important way to protect the environment against added pollution and waste. In general, it is estimated that that more than 75 percent of solid waste can be recycled.
There are two basic ways to be recycled, which are primary recycling and secondary recycling. Primary recycling refers to the process in which original waste material is recycled into the same material that it once was. An example of primary recycling is when a newspaper is recycled back into newsprint. The other type of recycling is secondary recycling. Secondary recycling refers to the process in which waste materials are recycled into different types of products.
What are the most common things you can recycle? There are many different things you can recycle. The most basic categories of recycling include paper, glass, metals, some kinds of plastic, textiles, old tires, and food wastes and yard wastes. The most common type of recyclable goods is paper goods. It is estimated that these days roughly 50 percent of all paper goods are being recycled. Nearly 30 percent of all glass is currently being recycled. Another common category is metals, which includes aluminum. Roughly 40 percent of all aluminum is currently recovered for recycling.
The example of aluminum can prove how important it is to recycle on a regular basis, and how it can truly make a difference in the world. It is estimated that simply by recycling aluminum, can save up to 90 percent of the energy that is required to produce new aluminum by having to mine virgin ore. This is a clear example of how aluminum, or more specifically, recycling aluminum, can help save energy and the environment.
If you are interested in recycling but your municipality simply does not offer recycling options, there are still ways that you can recycle on your own. One of the best forms of recycling is known as composting. Composting is great because it is easy to do and can make an important impact on the environment. Composting is growing in popularity because it is an easy way to make a difference in the world, as well as creating rich soil for your garden. Composting involves treating food waste and yard waste to the natural biological decomposition, or rotting, of the organic matter that is held in the waste.
Composting is very easy because you can do it simply by putting aside a small area of your yard to do it. Some communities may also allow community recycling. Composting involves mixing yard waste and food scraps into a heap and keeping it slightly moist and well aerated in order to allow the organic matter to decompose. The microbes and detritus feeders, which are worms and grubs, will gradually help your waste to decompose naturally. Once your yard waste and food scraps are done composting and breaking down, you will be left with a very rich humus material that can be used as an effective soil builder and natural fertilizer.