“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.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

• 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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Product: Curiosity Quest DVDs – Sanitary Landfill and Steinway & Sons Piano (both Telly Award Winners).

Cost: You can purchase these DVDs for about $20.

Reviewers: Eight year old Cedar + me.

WHAT IS CURIOSITY QUEST:

Curiosity Quest is a nationwide PBS television program that explores what viewers are curious about. In each show, host Joel Greene (a fun and likable fella), ventures on a quest to answer viewer’s letters of curiosity.

The show is not currently on my local PBS station (Portland, OR) but one, it’s summer, and two it may be on where you live – check here. Additionally there are two sorts of Quests, the original and the going green series, which of course, is likely of key interest to tree hugging families. The show has won numerous awards and is totally family-friendly.

What we think…

Cedar and I reviewed a recycling episode where Joel heads out on a Curiosity Quest to learn what happens to all the trash that doesn’t get recycled. We also reviewed an episode where 9 year old Dorothy (a young piano player) joins Joel at the Steinway & Sons factory in New York to learn how pianos are made.

The perks:

I loved the Sanitary Landfill show and actually learned a lot of stuff I never knew about landfill which was a nice surprise. Cedar is a little green head (he’s way better than me about green living), so I figured he’d like it too. He did somewhat, but said it was too dull to watch again. He did however learn some cool new facts from the show because I heard him relating them to his school pals the next day.

Cedar surprisingly REALLY liked the Steinway & Sons Piano episode. I was shocked because he’s obsessed with electric guitars so I thought pianos would bore him. However, he watched this one more than once and said, “I can’t believe that’s how they make pianos!” and, “This show is funny and cool” which he did not say about the other episode. I liked this episode too, but not as much as the green landfill show.

If I had to guess, I’d say that Cedar liked the piano episode better because they showed a project vs. a daily job process. Cedar is a huge fan of building and creating new objects and if your child is like Cedar I’m betting they’d love some of the more active series titles like the piano show, skateboards, Habitat for Humanity, green toys (the company) and more. A major perk of this show is there seems to be a quest available to suit just about any kid’s taste.

The negatives:

The cons of this product are mainly cosmetic. First of all the DVD case does not say which episode you’re getting. I mean you know which one you ordered hopefully, but it’s a little frustrating because one DVD case had Joel playing a guitar on the cover plus what appears to be a hot air balloon plus roller coasters – all of which my son was super excited about. BUT when we opened the case the DVD was the Steinway show, which as noted we liked, but my son was all, “Where’s the guitar show?”

The DVD is also a little funky. Ours had weird menu options that did nothing and the format was bizarre. There was also no scenes available – the shows are short, but at least a halfway split would be nice for smaller kids with shorter attention spans. Cosmetic baddies really aren’t so bad though since the shows are quality.

Overall score:

Four out of five happy little trees!

We thought this was a good show overall and while we had a few cons, they huge selection of different quests means lots of opportunities for new learning experiences and fun. Plus with the addition of the green quest series this is one DVD series that actually caters to green kids (rare).

You can buy copies of Curiosity Quest at the Curiosity Quest website shop.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

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.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

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

Twilight is the best time for… A night picnic. Plan an green evening picnic during the warm months (or bundle up if it’s chilly) then wait around to stargaze. Right after dusk is the best time to stargaze and the best location is as far from city lights as possible. Post-dusk is a cool time too because it’s not too late for super little ones either which means the whole family can stargaze together.

May is the best time for… Planting sunflowers. Actually April works well too. At this time of year sunflowers will pop up quickly which is key when it comes to kids and gardening – they like fast results. This year, don’t just plant your sunflowers in a row though; see how to make a cool sunflower playhouse and other kid-friendly gardening projects!

August is the best time for… A huge green festival! Each August the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California, rolls out their SolFest event. This fun event is not only green but totally family friendly. There’s always music, 50+ workshops, eco-speakers, organic foods, and so much more. The 2009 festival is set for August 15-16 so if you’re going to be near California pencil it in.

Early morning is the best time for… A hike. Before 10am and after 4pm are the best times to take your little ones out on a summer hike. Unless you’re hiking through a shaded forest the sun is going to be too hot and bright and there’s an increased risk of heat exposure and sunburn. Also, kids are more likely to see cool wildlife in the morning and after 4pm because if it’s too hot and bright for us humans, what do you think the animals are doing? Yup, hiding. Learn more about planning a kid-friendly hike or visit Make Tracks – a great site dedicated to getting kids outside.

Summer is the best time for… Green summer camps. Now, as I usually note, camps are sort of green by nature. However, there are some specific eco-minded camps that promote green as part of the everyday. Learn more about green summer camps.

Early spring is the best time to… Buy a bike. Kids should get started early on healthy green transportation and early spring is the perfect time to put this into action. Bikes tend to go on sale in early spring or you can learn how to buy a used bike anytime of the year.

Do you have any other ideas about when is a great time to be a green nature kid? Let me know what you (and your kids) think in the comments.

[images via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

To learn more about green living kids can tune into the “PBS Kids Share the Earth Day Celebration” going on all this week. Arthur and his gang are covering lessons about planting trees, composting, recycling, energy conservation, and more.

The Earth Day show sounds pretty cool; “The Blackout” – “It’s the hottest day in Elwood City, when a total blackout leaves its residents without any electricity. Arthur and D.W. don’t think they will survive without air conditioning and television. Luckily, the Molinas next door step in with a few ideas for keeping the temperature cool and the food preserved–and even having fun under the toughest of weather conditions.”

Kids can also take the Arthur go green challenge online. There are all sorts of tips offered in a kid-friendly manner; from greening your clothes, to food choices, and energy use, kids can pick up all sorts of tips. They can even grow their own “groovy garden,” join the rainsavers club, and more.

Visit PBS KIDS GO! to see all the green for kids going on this week.

[image via PBS KIDS GO!]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family