Raising Green Kids In A Commercial Culture

We’re not going to have a green audit this week. Instead, with Earth Day coming up – only 43 more days, I thought we should start talking about kids and the commercial culture. Earth Day or not, having less stuff, is a greener way to live. More importantly, it’s a less cumbersome way to live – our world doesn’t become all about stuff.

As important as this topic is, many adults can’t even manage to free themselves from commercialism, so how do we also handle kids, who seem almost physically prone to want material items.

That’s what we’ll be covering this week – all week. It’s an important topic, so although, obviously, I’ll be the one posting, I want you to let me know what you think as well.

I think that the New American Dream organization sums up some major components of living with less stuff nicely. There’s more to it, of course, but to get started, here are three main points:

1. Live consciously: be more aware of what really matters in life.
2. Buy wisely: make each purchase, or decision not to purchase stand out.
3. Make a difference: use your actions and words to deal with commercialism.

Without all three components, living less commercially is less successful. Why do you think that is?

I’ll be back to kick this topic off soon.