Going Green at Home. Getting to Know Mammals

Going Green At Home Starting Today


Going Green at home starting today can be fun, easy and just a simple re-thinking of HOW you live. Here are some simple, effective yet fun tips to get the whole family involved and educated at the same time! Children do WHAT YOU DO, regardless of what you say! Teach by doing.



1. Recycle. It’s the one most simple method you can start NOW. Get the kids involved. Give them each containers-that have been repurposed. Reuse plastic storage bins, lined milk crates., The trick is NOT to purchase to ‘make it happen’. Allow them to place in their room for their use. They can mingle it in the main containers as directed. The night before garbage pickup-weigh your garbage, then your recycled cans/bins. Make a chart or poster to track it. The goal is to make the recycled cans/bins outweigh the main garbage, and hopefully increase weekly as everybody gets into it. A bathroom scale is usually great!



2. Repurpose as many items as you can. Yogurt containers make great seed starters for kitchen herbs, decorate for pencil/paintbrush holders. Reuse butter tubs for game pieces, screws & bolts, wire ties, leftovers for lunch they have endless uses! Gallon milk containers make great bird food dispensers with the sides cut out and tiny holes punched out in the bottom for drainage-everybody wins! Maybe hold a contest see who has the best/most ideas-and reward them-by implementing the ideas in your household! Call or talk to your child’s teacher, many schools are very short on supplies, and could use things such a cardboard paper rollers from bathroom tissue and paper towels. Baby food jars, egg cartons, butter tubs etc. Place a box in your garage for these special items so they can be dropped off when full or needed.



3. Children need to learn the price of consumerism. Allow them to monitor their usage & YOURS! Assign a Watt Warden and a Water Warden. Get poster board, or cut a large section from a cardboard box chart your progress(stress reuse the box). Keep a little notebook for each. They should get up regularly about ½ hour check out the house for lights on or water over-usage. Write the offenders name down each time. The next week the offender with the most, must do the job! Purchase compact fluorescent bulbs one a week! Install digital thermostats and use nightlights with daylight sensors-so they’re not left on in the morning hustle! One of my favorites & my grandaughters is-A windup flashlight next to her bed, instead of a constantly burning bulb! Compare bills with the family each month-see your savings. Decide what preferably GREEN activity you can do with the savings, maybe rent a Canoe and go paddling? This way they can see the cost of ‘invisible’ consumerism. And will realize it isn’t free! Call FPL for FREE review! It’s helpful, and revealing. Enroll in a power saving program such as On-call, put the savings towards a Green outing or another green project!



4. While in the grocery store, purchase local foods. Explain why, such as the cost ‘Carbon Footprint’ and what that means, how far some of the foods have come. The chemicals used in other countries that are no longer legal to be used here and why. Use reusable bags, buy one for each child so they will learn to use them. If you do get plastic on those occasional purchases-keep them together and show the children where they can be recycled usually just outside your local grocery store! I even recycle expired coupons-all these ACTIONS build a great future for our children, and by doing them, they are learning a lot about economics as well as their Planet.



5. Wild-up your yard! If you do not have a pet patrolling you backyard, take the children to your local pet supply store such as PetSmart. Purchase a simple birdfeeder, start out simple and make it someone’s job to fill it daily. I do mine after sunset, as the birds arrive very early! Use a Wild Bird Seed mix. It has a big enough variety, that most birds will find something they like. You can add on suet and other special foods as you become familiar with you feathered fans! Pick a far away corner in your yard. Place cuttings in that corner for passerby’s in the night, such as Opossums. You can place fruit/potato peels, old salads etc., in that corner. It recycles the food scraps, as well as helps our wildlife that no longer have wild places to go to choose food sources from.

Mammals

Wandering About Nature Today-