by Jeanne M. Robinson
Have you ever thought that the way you eat can help improve our environment?
One way is to eat less meat. Livestock herds account for about 10% of all greenhouse gases, especially methane gas. Their ever-growing population is unsustainable to our earth. The waste produced is estimated at 13 billion tons and contributes to pollution of land, water and air. Runoff to our water supply is especially devastating. There are also local effects such as rainforest destruction in Central and South America. Does this mean you have to give up meat entirely? No, just cut back where you can. You could go meat-free at lunch or skip meat one or two dinners a week. If a lot of people did this, the demand for meat would decrease to help reduce affects to our environment. Also, there are health benefits to eating less meat. There are many ways to get protein besides meat.
Eating locally grown food also helps our environment. The average fresh food item on our dinner table travels 1,500 miles to get there. (source: Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture). Buying locally produced food eliminates the need for so much energy to transport the food and usually results in less packaging. The food is usually grown with less pesticides and is more tasty and nutritious.
And when you are purchasing your food, what kind of bag do you put it in? Plastic bags litter our soil and water. Many animals think floating plastic bags are food and die after trying to eat them. Plastic bags that end up in landfills may take up to 1,000 years to break down, and they separate into smaller and smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water. Producing plastic bags consume millions of gallons of oil. Paper bag also have problems such as the number of trees required to produce them. What should you pick? Reusable shopping bags made of materials that don’t hurt the environment while being produced are the best option. If you still choose to use plastic or paper bags, be sure to re-use them for as long as possible and then recycle them.
And what about the packaging the food comes in? Look for the least amount of packaging and packaging that is biodegradable or recyclable. Less is more.
These are small steps but can have big impacts if we all do our part.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Environment Needs YOU!
By Jacqueline Cook and Abigail Cook
Have you ever thought to yourself, “what can I do to save the environment…I’m just a kid!”? Well, if you have then today is your lucky day. The truth is that kids do more to change the world than they get credit for. But, it can seem overwhelming to both kids and adults to think about saving the environment because we just don’t know where to start. The best thing you can do is start small and, most importantly, make it fun! If you make it a game and get your whole family, neighborhood, or even school involved before you know it your small change will have multiplied into a giant change, and that’s how we will save our planet.
You may have already heard of the three R’s of the environment, but in case you haven’t they are “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”. Most people focus on recycling, which is great and very important, but what about reducing and reusing? They are just as important and, if done well, can help your family save money!
REDUCE – When you look around your house can you think of anything that you could reduce how much you and your family use each day? What about the obvious thing – food! Does your family throw away a lot of food? Maybe you buy too much at the grocery store and it goes bad before you can eat it, or maybe your family doesn’t like leftovers. Well, this would be a great place to start to get your whole family going Green.
Here’s what you do:
- Instead of letting food go bad, why not pick someone in your family to be responsible for checking the expiration dates on the food that could go bad, like dairy products. For example, if that person sees that the sour cream is going to go bad in a few days, that same person has to find a recipe that uses up all of the sour cream. It’s OK if your family doesn’t have a lot of cookbooks at home. There are all kinds of websites on the internet that you can use to look up recipes based on what kind of ingredients you want to use. Try www.allrecipes.com. Oh, and each week a different person should be responsible. It’s important that everyone gets a turn.
- Each time the family uses up the food before it goes bad, the whole family gets a reward. Decide as a family what that reward should be, and make it something good! For example, keep track of all the money your family saves by not wasting and they create a family fun jar and put all the money in there and watch it grow! Use the money to go on a family vacation, or to an amusement park, or to build a swing set in your backyard. The possibilities are endless!
- Have a family leftover night. One night each week gather all the leftovers in your refrigerator and make dinner with them. Make it a challenge with prizes. For example, if the family is able to use up half of the leftovers on Family Leftover Night then the family gets to play a board game together (let a different person pick the game each week). If the family uses up all the leftovers, the family gets to go to the park together! You can decide on whatever prizes work best for your family, but the point is to make it fun. Oh, and don’t forget – by eating up the leftovers you’re saving money again so put the savings in the family fun jar!
- Here’s one last really great and easy idea. Reduce how much water, electricity, and gas your family uses. When you brush your teeth, turn the water on only when you need to rinse off your toothbrush or get a drink of water. When you run your dishwasher, only run it when it’s full. When you leave a room, turn the lights off and try not to turn any lights on during the sunlight hours if possible. In the winter, think about wearing sweaters and slippers around your house so you can keep the heat setting as low as possible. In the summer, see if your family can stand setting the air conditioner just one degree warmer and try not to open doors too much. Get your family together and walk around your house and make a list of all of the ideas you can think of together for ways to conserve water, electricity, and gas. Then, have your parents keep track of their bills so everyone can see if their efforts are working. If they’re not working, see if you can try even more things. If they are, guess what? Your family just earned more money for the family fun jar!
REUSE – There are so many things you can reuse instead of throwing them away, and you can start doing all of these ideas today!
- Use the cloth sacs for grocery shopping instead of plastic bags.
- If you bring your lunch to school, pack it in a reusable lunch bag and try to use washable plastic food containers instead of plastic baggies.
- Donate all of your old clothes and toys to charity rather than throwing them out.
- Be creative and think about saving things you normally would throw away to be used in arts and crafts projects.
RECYCLE – And last but not least, let’s not forget about recycling! By now most cities and towns across the country are participating in recycling. If your family isn’t recycling yet it might be because you have to request recycling bins and service from your town’s waste disposal company or sanitation department. Have your parents call and find out. Here are some things you can do:
- Look at the items that you buy and try to buy things with recycled materials in them.
- If your home recycling bins don’t let you recycle plastic bags or other things, go online and research where you can recycle those things. Recycling at your home can reduce your trash by half, sometimes even more if you’re really good at it!
- Talk to the principal at your school and ask what the school is doing about recycling. If they’re not doing anything, or if they are doing a little but would like to do more, ask if your school can form an environmental action team made up of students, teachers, and parents to help the school get going on their recycling plans.
These are just a few ideas but the truth is that there are so many things you can do to help planet Earth if you take the time to look around where you live and be creative. Keep it simple in the beginning and start with one goal you know you can reach, then keep expanding and doing a little more until before you know it your family fun jar is completely full and the three R’s of the environment are just a regular part of how your family lives. Also, for more ideas check out the web. A few good websites are:
http://greenguideforkids.blogspot.com/
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/recycle.htm
Good luck, and thank you for joining the cause!
Have you ever thought to yourself, “what can I do to save the environment…I’m just a kid!”? Well, if you have then today is your lucky day. The truth is that kids do more to change the world than they get credit for. But, it can seem overwhelming to both kids and adults to think about saving the environment because we just don’t know where to start. The best thing you can do is start small and, most importantly, make it fun! If you make it a game and get your whole family, neighborhood, or even school involved before you know it your small change will have multiplied into a giant change, and that’s how we will save our planet.
You may have already heard of the three R’s of the environment, but in case you haven’t they are “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle”. Most people focus on recycling, which is great and very important, but what about reducing and reusing? They are just as important and, if done well, can help your family save money!
REDUCE – When you look around your house can you think of anything that you could reduce how much you and your family use each day? What about the obvious thing – food! Does your family throw away a lot of food? Maybe you buy too much at the grocery store and it goes bad before you can eat it, or maybe your family doesn’t like leftovers. Well, this would be a great place to start to get your whole family going Green.
Here’s what you do:
- Instead of letting food go bad, why not pick someone in your family to be responsible for checking the expiration dates on the food that could go bad, like dairy products. For example, if that person sees that the sour cream is going to go bad in a few days, that same person has to find a recipe that uses up all of the sour cream. It’s OK if your family doesn’t have a lot of cookbooks at home. There are all kinds of websites on the internet that you can use to look up recipes based on what kind of ingredients you want to use. Try www.allrecipes.com. Oh, and each week a different person should be responsible. It’s important that everyone gets a turn.
- Each time the family uses up the food before it goes bad, the whole family gets a reward. Decide as a family what that reward should be, and make it something good! For example, keep track of all the money your family saves by not wasting and they create a family fun jar and put all the money in there and watch it grow! Use the money to go on a family vacation, or to an amusement park, or to build a swing set in your backyard. The possibilities are endless!
- Have a family leftover night. One night each week gather all the leftovers in your refrigerator and make dinner with them. Make it a challenge with prizes. For example, if the family is able to use up half of the leftovers on Family Leftover Night then the family gets to play a board game together (let a different person pick the game each week). If the family uses up all the leftovers, the family gets to go to the park together! You can decide on whatever prizes work best for your family, but the point is to make it fun. Oh, and don’t forget – by eating up the leftovers you’re saving money again so put the savings in the family fun jar!
- Here’s one last really great and easy idea. Reduce how much water, electricity, and gas your family uses. When you brush your teeth, turn the water on only when you need to rinse off your toothbrush or get a drink of water. When you run your dishwasher, only run it when it’s full. When you leave a room, turn the lights off and try not to turn any lights on during the sunlight hours if possible. In the winter, think about wearing sweaters and slippers around your house so you can keep the heat setting as low as possible. In the summer, see if your family can stand setting the air conditioner just one degree warmer and try not to open doors too much. Get your family together and walk around your house and make a list of all of the ideas you can think of together for ways to conserve water, electricity, and gas. Then, have your parents keep track of their bills so everyone can see if their efforts are working. If they’re not working, see if you can try even more things. If they are, guess what? Your family just earned more money for the family fun jar!
REUSE – There are so many things you can reuse instead of throwing them away, and you can start doing all of these ideas today!
- Use the cloth sacs for grocery shopping instead of plastic bags.
- If you bring your lunch to school, pack it in a reusable lunch bag and try to use washable plastic food containers instead of plastic baggies.
- Donate all of your old clothes and toys to charity rather than throwing them out.
- Be creative and think about saving things you normally would throw away to be used in arts and crafts projects.
RECYCLE – And last but not least, let’s not forget about recycling! By now most cities and towns across the country are participating in recycling. If your family isn’t recycling yet it might be because you have to request recycling bins and service from your town’s waste disposal company or sanitation department. Have your parents call and find out. Here are some things you can do:
- Look at the items that you buy and try to buy things with recycled materials in them.
- If your home recycling bins don’t let you recycle plastic bags or other things, go online and research where you can recycle those things. Recycling at your home can reduce your trash by half, sometimes even more if you’re really good at it!
- Talk to the principal at your school and ask what the school is doing about recycling. If they’re not doing anything, or if they are doing a little but would like to do more, ask if your school can form an environmental action team made up of students, teachers, and parents to help the school get going on their recycling plans.
These are just a few ideas but the truth is that there are so many things you can do to help planet Earth if you take the time to look around where you live and be creative. Keep it simple in the beginning and start with one goal you know you can reach, then keep expanding and doing a little more until before you know it your family fun jar is completely full and the three R’s of the environment are just a regular part of how your family lives. Also, for more ideas check out the web. A few good websites are:
http://greenguideforkids.blogspot.com/
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/recycle.htm
Good luck, and thank you for joining the cause!
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