“For the president to talk out but not just say what we should do but what will happen if we don’t stop littering…We should have one day a month that should be green day. Start putting a lot more commercials about the environment. Start putting posters up and I know it may sound extreme but maybe even paint the White House green…We should star putting a program about “green” on national TV also, so we can inspire other states, communities, families and countries.”

That’s what one child said when asked about how the public should be better educated on green issues in the new report, “Growing Up Green.” The report, a first of its kind, focuses on what kids ages 11 and 12 think about the current eco-issues.  Growing up Green is by no means a typical report looking at typical American kids. The children surveyed go to Merrill Middle School in Des Moines, Iowa – which according to the report is “one of the greenest schools in one of the nation’s greenest cities.” So their answers are related to their world and immediate surroundings, not the typical surroundings that the average American kid is emerged in.

However, what’s cool about this report is that it shows what kids who are exposed to green think about and how they choose to make a difference. The report reflects some excellent examples as to why we really need to focus on kids and get them on board with green living now not later.

In the report, the children answered more than 40 questions (many open ended) that offer insight into the role environmental conservation and sustainability play in young people’s lives, and they wrote essays explaining what they think it will take to protect the environment, who should lead the charge, and why it matters.

Some findings from Growing Up Green:

• Most students agree that the local, state and federal government has an important role to play when it comes to eco-issues, but the kids were split on whether it’s through legislation or encouraging the public to be more environmentally conscious.
• Many students said that individuals need to take simple steps in their own lives to protect natural resources.
• The students identified a need to raise public awareness of the problems and also to make more of the public understand how they can help.
• The students generally believe that involving more youth in environmental issues will make an impact in the future.
• Many of the students said government leaders and businesses should find new and different ways to protect the environment.

I read through most of the report and was amazed at he insights these kids have. It’s astounding what children consider when given the tools to do so. If you didn’t think that kids have the ability to change the world and keep it green, you will after reading this report. You can download the report “Growing Up Green” for free (pdf) and read all about it including many other cool quotes from eco-minded kiddos.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Assign labels to smaller kids: Normally labeling kids is lame, but assigning them to be on light patrol, recycling king duty, or giving them another cool eco-label is fun and makes their job of keeping it green more important. Tell them it’s their job to make sure lights aren’t left on or that paper makes it into the right recycling bin. Little ones might like a button they can wear that proclaims their title for everyone to see.

Recruit older kids to teach the little ones: Note what an awesome job your older child does with recycling or turning the water off, then let him teach a younger sibling how.

Put the power in their hands: A book like The New 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth gives kids specific kid-friendly tools they need to become eco-friendly.

When greening get them involved: Kids can help you sort toxic plastics out of the kitchen, they can learn to compost or cook organic dishes, and they can help choose products to donate to charities. It can take a little longer with kids helping, but that’s how they learn.

Help them with green issues that matter to them: It’s all good and fine to discuss solar power or hybrids, but the issues that affect kids more are things like green toys, organic clothing, eco schools, and organic cooking projects. Make sure the green issues you’re discussing with the kids matter to them and affect their lives.

Don’t put them down, even if they’re wrong: My son has some pretty funky ideas about green topics. He’s only eight and while he gets the basics he’s also been known to give some fairly odd lectures about green living to his pals or staff at his school. BUT he means well, so I try to be patient, sometimes correct him nicely, and remind myself that he’s little, he might get some facts wrong. Little kids don’t need lectures about the fine details of green living, they’ll learn in time, and if you come down on them, they might drop it all together.

Hook them up with online tools: There are some online resources that are better than others for kids. Sites that are less fluff, more action oriented include:

• Act Green
• The Greens
• Recycle City
• Green Squad

Walk the walk: Kids are some of the best mimics on earth. You being green, talking green, and acting green is one of the biggest ways to empower kids because it sets a priority that green means something to your family. My son is way proud when he catches something I miss – i.e. lights left on or recyclable items in the trash. He fixes the problem without any coaching. He wasn’t born this way. He’s been included in the green conversation for years and has heard me talk about why it matters to us and the planet. Look at your own actions, see what you could be doing greener and then tell your kids about your plans to change.

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• Hold a family hiking day once a month.
• Encourage more outdoor minded field trips at your child’s school.
• Plan games and activities that encourage outdoor time such as bird watching, rock collecting, plant identification, nature scavenger hunts, and more.
• Get involved in your local community garden, or if you have the means, planting a garden at home.
• Plan green travel – i.e. for family vacations, plan a camping trip vs. a trip to a resort.
• Get the kids involved in nature minded art projects and crafts.
• Check out books from the library on nature topics.
• Do a family community clean-up day in a local park or other outdoor area.

Lastly, get involved with a group or program that supports a life-long love of nature and outdoor activities such as…

• No Child Left Inside
• The Girl Scouts
• Children & Nature
• Nature Explore
• Camp Fire USA
• Earth Scouts
• 4-H
• Nature Rocks
• American Hiking Society

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If you’re looking for decent priced green clothes that are new you’re more limited, because one, eco-friendly clothing can be more costly but consider that you want your kids in healthy clothes. Also, as noted here before green clothing manufactures seem to think people are either age birth to five or teen to adult. Kids clothes of the greener kind are WAY harder to find, but you do have a few options…

Check out normal stores BUT look for the organic label. I’ve found organics in my son’s size (he’s a typical eight year old size) at places like Sears and other department stores. Most of the time these stores don’t make it easy to find the eco-options, but there are often some available.

For actual places to get eco-friendly clothing for kids (older than babies) check out…

Earth Creations has  bunch of tees for kiddos in nice designs (see above) and many are on sale for $10! Yup $10. Nice.

Hanna’s Dream – some insane sales on right now too!

Greenedge kids – lots of stuff even in size 12! Wow.

Sarah Waldo Organics – a bit more $ and girl based, BUT so cute; perfect for a special back to school piece or coat – sizes up to 10 I believe in most pieces.

Organic for Your Kids – UK based but has some older sizes.

Revenge Is… who I’ve reviewed here before now has a really cute kid tee for a good price.

Also see: earth friendly shoes for kids.

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Via Design Sponge

If you made this DIY twinkle board with LED lights and reclaimed wood it’d not only be totally imaginative decor for a child’s space but eco-friendly too. I love this idea.

Next a video game review I posted elsewhere – Plants vs. Zombies. I couldn’t decide if I should post this here or at my gardening blog, but because it’s not technically a green product, I reviewed it at my garden blog. However, I really think if you’re green-minded you’ll like this game. It’s family friendly, not expensive, totally adorable, and full of plants and zombies. It’s the only time I’ve really seen plants kicking butt in a game, which is pretty darn cool.

Via Inhabitots

Wee Woodland Mushrooms – Adorable Toys with Endless Possibilities – my new favorite simple eco-friendly wooden toy of ALL time. I’m not sure why I love these tiny mushrooms so much, but I do, and your little one will for sure.

Grab a sewing machine and make your own DIY coloring books (tip use recycled paper).

This is not so much fun as it is wicked cool – one town bans plastic water bottles! Yay.

The cutest outdoor playhouse made with reclaimed windows you’ve ever seen. A great fun reuse idea and would be awesome for kids or relaxing adults.

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What’s noteworthy at the site:

Rainforest Heros is packed with tools for adults that make teaching kids about rainforests easier. For example at the Teacher’s Lounge, you can download an awesome Kids Action Toolkit that’s designed to answer your students’/kids questions about rainforests, climate change, Indigenous land rights, animal and plant species, and the latest causes of deforestation. There’s also a neat FREE movie you can watch with your kids, Forest Family Forever!, that tells the story of a thousand year old grandfather tree who teaches his sapling grandson about the wonders of the rainforests and what kids can do to save them. Lastly are lesson plans, ideas, fact sheets and more – all created to help you pass on rainforest knowledge to the kiddos.

The kids corner is made just for the littles and has activities, action steps, news about what other kids are doing and more.

The Jungle Gym section of the site is made for fun and learning with a Kids’ Art Gallery, Crafts and Recipes, Games, Coloring Books and more.

Best of all is a heroes area that highlights what kids all over are doing to save the rainforests. Kids learn best by example, in my opinion, and when they learn from other kids it drives the point even further home.

Visit Rainforest Heroes today and get the whole family involved in rainforest action.

[image via Rainforest Action Network]

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If you have the cutest eco-tot on the whole planet you should enter – I know some of our readers here have super cute tots so this means you. Plus the prize is really great…

The winning Eco-Cutey will be featured on Inhabitots and Inhabitat, and will receive an Inhabitat shirt and a $50 gift certificate to the Inhabitat Shop! The Inhabitat shop has all sorts of amazing eco-gear, clothing, and decor items for adults and little ones, so winning means you could kick off summer with some new eco-friendly items.

To enter all you have to do is sign up for the Inhabitots newsletter and upload your eco-cutey’s photo in the comment section of the contest post. If you enter and win let me know – that would rock.

Enter the contest – good luck!

[image via Inhabitots]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

It’s a tough call because the things that make you a green parent are debatable. For instance are you greener if you use cloth diapers but fail to recycle, or are you greener if you recycle, grow and hand make your own organic baby food, plus buy only natural toys BUT you use disposable diapers? Which parent is greener?

What do I think defines green parenting?:

I think there are some key elements to green parenting such as…

1. Being hands on and encouraging your littles to love nature. If you’re not getting your kids outside and teaching them about the planet you’d like them to conserve, the lesson is screwy, don’t you think?
2. Making choices by weighing the risks of your actions – i.e. is it better to buy a set of plastic Legos (affordable) and be able to afford organic milk or is it more important to buy an all natural, toxic-free toy (not always affordable) and skip the organic milk? I side with the organic milk on this one. I can’t always control what my son plays with, but he’s past the age of putting Legos into his mouth while milk does go into his mouth daily and non-organic could affect his health.
3. Doing the basics – I do think that green parenting at the very least means encouraging recycling, making green cleaning choices, and doing away with disposables when possible. For example, we’ve never had paper napkins in our house, and I’m hoping my son will grow up and continue to use cloth napkins – small choices add up. The above (green cleaning, recycling, and knocking disposables) are easy things that any parent can try.
4. Talking about why we make the choices we do. My son, at age eight years, can tell you all about pollution, recycling, organic foods, tree planting and more. Yeah, he tells it in his own words but he gets it to a level that an eight year old can get it. Talking about green living is maybe one of the most important parts of being a green parent in my opinion.

I can think of other things, but the above make the most sense to me. Green choices are tough. Parenting is tougher. Add them together and it’s a lot to deal with which is why I advocate small steps here at THF. Of course I also encourage large steps, but I think if you do what you can it’s an awesome start. Maybe later I’ll gather up a list of green parenting steps – from small to large.

What do you think? What defines green parenting in your opinion?

[image via me - my son Cedar on a hike]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

I Buy Different: One of the best eco-minded sites for tweens and teens in my opinion. This site focuses on how what we buy and how much we buy have a huge impact on the environment, buying choices, and how kids who buy smart can find products and services that use less water, trees, and fossil fuels while decreasing air and water pollution and protecting wildlife habitat. This site is packed with seriously cool tips and kid-based issues, for example:

• A story about a girl who in fifth grade invented a safer bike helmet, and at age 15, designed a new type of asphalt made from recycled plastic bottles.
• Rock bands who plant forests.
• Youth eco-insights.
• And so much more.

I recently reviewed 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth here at THF, which was a fun read, but beyond the book they have a fabulous interactive website for youth. Kids can see the answers to cool questions like, “Does your hamburger make the Earth hotter?” and “How do we save water and stop pollution?” There’s also a huge page of eco-activities and more.

The Green Squad: An NRDC created website that allows kids to search out and solve environmental problems – for example room-by-room in a classroom. Good amount of fact sheets and eco-resources included.

Skworm (Scientific Knowledge Worm) answers your kids questions about soil. Questions such as “Is soil made through magic?” and “What is soil conservation?” are answered by a wiggly worm.

Kids Planet: A really LOUD site so be prepared – but kids will love it. Tons of games, facts, and even a teacher/parent resource page.

The Big Blue Bus: This site has fun features like the Water Wizards Club, plus a very nice Small Fry Club especially for kids 7 and under. There are contests, games, facts, and more all related to water.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Kids and teens can have just as big an impact on the earth’s health as adults. More actually I’d wager. They’re small now, but have a long life of either negative or positive impacts to make on the planet. The lessons they learn, the tasks they try, the options they choose will be long lasting and passed on to their children as well.

Save the earth: A list of eco-ideas to offer kids and teens…

Assume one choice can change the world. If you don’t believe this is true, take a look at what these kids accomplish. Each choice you make does affect the planet.

Boycott one toy. Choose a toy that you like, but that’s over-packaged. Write a letter to the toy company that says you won’t be buying or playing with their toy until they shape up.

Carry an eco-lunch.

Donate, don’t toss used toys.

Eat less meat – you’ll save energy, resources, and have better health by cutting out even one or two meat-based meals a week.

Follow the three R’s at all times (Refuse [or reduce], Reuse, and Recycle).

Get hooked on nature.

Hop around with frogs (and learn about power) in the Generation Island online game. (7th-8th grade level game).

It’s Getting Hot In Here – voices from the student and youth leaders of the global movement to stop global warming

Jot stuff down on homemade recycled scratch pads.

Kick your school into gear. Most schools could be doing more to recycle and reuse materials. Could yours? Why not check it out.

Learn to drive eco-style.

Mail earth-friendly e-cards, instead of paper.

Never leave a room without turning off the light.

Outfit yourself in style; but make sure it’s a earth-friendly style.

Plant one tree, or some wildflowers, or a pizza garden. Help something new to grow.

Question adults – seriously, adults close to you don’t know everything, they may even be harming the earth. Question what the adults you know are doing and offer healthy planet alternatives.

Recycled backpacks for school.

Sticky and non-toxic fun.

Try fun plant experiments.

Understand what goes on at your recycling center.

Visit Junk Creations to see kid creations made of old recycled goods. 

Whip up some recycled musical instruments and start singing. (Not for teens by the way – this tip is best for little ones)

Xtream Frisbee – recycled style.

Yell at a litterer – ok, don’t yell, but tell them to pick up their trash.

Zoom into an environmental career (it’s never too early to start thinking about your work later).

Post from: Tree Hugging Family