Instill Green Ways in Your Kids

As you would teach your children to share their toys or how to pitch in with household chores, you also need to teach your children how to be friendlier to the environment. Instilling these habits in children helps them to grow up to be more eco-chic adults and can only help to make the world a better place to live.

Lead by Example

You know your children imitate your actions and the actions of others, so use this to your advantage in a positive way. Make sure your children see you doing green things and that you point them out to the kids when you’re doing them. Take the time to explain why you’re doing it and how it helps the environment and the people living in it.

Eat Green

Rather than buy pre-made or pre-packaged foods, feed your children homemade meals instead. Even baby food can be made at home rather than buy jars of baby food that uses glass, aluminum and paper. Not only is eating homemade food generally healthier for your kids, but it’s also healthier for the environment.

Green Toys & Books

Buy chemical and additive free toys for your kids. It’s better for their health anyway. You can also find books that have stories and actions that are all about environmentally friendly things or show the characters participating in things that are good for the environment. This is another form of lead by example. Older kids can read articles you find online or in newspapers and magazines that you read.

Introduce them to Nature

No matter where you live in the country, you are surrounded by nature. Make sure that you introduce your kids to the environment and what all of your green efforts are saving. Hike nature trails, take them to the zoo or the local natural history museum. When you go to the beach, talk about sand erosion and the efforts the community is making to protect barrier islands. Volunteer with your kids to clean up a local beach, highway or other areas.

Make Recycling a Family Affair

Buy some plastic bins and chalkboard paint. Paint a small area on the front of each bin with your child. Use a piece of chalk to write glass, plastic, cardboard, newspaper, etc., on each bin. This makes it fun for you and the kids, as well as organizing your recycling efforts. Take your cloth bags to the grocery store with you when you shop. Go over with your child what is recyclable and what isn’t. Make as much of what you do as possible an avenue of awareness for your child on how they can make a difference.

Teaching your child to be green and a friend to the environment is a series of lessons similar to all of the other life lessons you instill in them as they grow. It starts with you. Instill these Earth-friendly habits in your children as soon as possible and throughout their life. It will make them greener adults and make their community a better place to live.

Could Beetles be the Answer to Recycling Styrofoam?

In the U.S. alone, more than 25 billion Styrofoam cups wind up in landfills every year. These types of disposable cups have made traveling with drinks more convenient, but it is not having a positive effect on the environment. The 16-year-old winner of the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) may have found the answer to this problem.

Tseng I-Ching, a student from Taiwan, has research that shows beetle bacteria breaks down this form of plastic used in producing cups and other tableware as well as packing supplies. While the research isn't completely conclusive, it is a step in the right direction. Instead of this light weight substance ending up in landfills and being carried all over the place by the wind, we may soon be able to recycle Styrofoam. If it's with beetles, then so be it!

Listen Up Miami: Local Action Challenge

SustainLane is heading up the Local Action Challenge for Miami, Florida in partnership with Hopenhagen, an international movement to drive action on climate change at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen this December.

Cities across the country – like Miami,FL – have sent in their top-ten lists of actions they’d like residents to take in order to combat climate change and otherwise care for the planet right in their own communities.

Residents who take their cities’ challenge, complete tasks on the list and upload photos of themselves doing so. They are then entered into weekly drawings to win prizes donated by green business sponsors.

Here’s how to play:

1. Go to www.SustainLane.com/hopenhagen
2. Choose your city
3. Choose a challenge
4. Take a photo of yourself in action
5. Upload it
6. Win a prize
7. Repeat

Stay it Green--Hotel Stays that are Part of the Green Movement

Whether it's in the middle of the rain forest in Costa Rica or down south in South Carolina, when you're traveling you can take your greenness on the road with you. That's right, there are green hotels around the world to choose from. As there is an association for almost anything you can think of, there is also a Green Hotels Association to support hotels and the green movement.

What Makes a Hotel Green
There is a pretty lengthy list of ways that hotels can go green and there are certain criteria hotels have to meet to officially get the LEED or the Green Hotels Association stamp of approval. Here are some items to keep in mind when choosing your next place to stay.

1. Items on request. While most hotels offer up free sample size bottles of shampoo and bottles of water, green hotels only stock these items on request. This requires you to pack your own items, but if you forget or need something, they'll still be able to supply it for you.

2. Energy efficient equipment and no-chemical cleaners. Using energy efficient appliances and chemical free cleaning supplies is another ways hotels go green. You can contribute to the greenness by reusing your towels and sheets rather than having the cleaning person change them each day of your stay. You do not change your sheets and towels on a daily basis at home and there isn't really a need to do so when you're staying in a hotel either.

3. Solar lights or energy efficient lighting. Green hotels also use alternative energy sources and efficient lighting. Hotel industry energy bills can run as high as $3.7 billion each year. Cutting down use not only saves the hotel money (and you money on the room price) but it also saves the environment. You can help contribute to these savings by turning off the lights in your room when you leave.

How to Create Your Own Ecovillage

There are communities sprouting up around the country and around the world built on living a sustainable lifestyle. These are self-sufficient communities that produce everything they need to live right in their own backyards. It takes full cooperation from all of the residents but it is possible to create and live in an ecovillage.

Sharing. The staple of creating and living in an ecovillage is something you learned as a child--sharing. Instead of individuals using energy, food or other resources, the residents of ecovillages share these items instead. It may man limiting Internet access to a central location that everyone can access rather than in individual homes, carpooling or sharing cars. It's estimated that ecovillages can save between 50 and 60 percent on energy use.

Renew, reuse and recycle. Ecovillages also tend to use renewable energy sources, compost, recycle or reuse everything that they can. The rewards of this lifestyle can go beyond helping to save the environment. An ecovillage in Los Angeles, for example, offers reduced rental amounts to homes that don't own a car.

Build it green. Ecovillages tend to build green--using sustainable materials, solar energy and hot water designs, high-efficiency appliances, super-insulated roofs, high-performance windows, straw bale insulation, rainwater collection, composting and more.

Ecovillages grow the majority of their own food, so there is typically one or more organic gardens within the town limits. Ten acres of land devoted to organic farms can feed up to 1,000 residents. Family-style meals where everyone in the community pitches in to feed the community is also a common trait of an ecovillage. While some communities serve family-style meals three times a day, other communities do it a couple times a week.

Are You Throwing Away Recyclables?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) predicts that 75% of what is thrown away is recyclable. Think of how much you can change and help to protect the environment if you could recycle 75% more than you do right now. The key to accomplishing this is to make sure that you fully understand what you're throwing away that you may be able to recycle.

1. Recyclables vary by location. Request a list of items from your local recycling company to see what you are able to recycle. It can and does vary by your location. For example, in Northern Virginia, you can recycle junk mail and window envelopes. In Miami, these are not recyclable items. Finding out what you can and cannot put in your curbside bin may boost the amount of waste you can recycle.


2. Mail-back and drop-off programs. Items such as electronics and automotive waste cannot be put in your recycling bin but there are many programs where you can mail-in or drop-off these items to be recycled. For example, auto parts stores and some mechanics take and recycle motor oil and old tires. Cell phones and printer cartridges can be mailed to manufacturers or dropped off at stores such as Best Buy.

3. Trade it in. Computers and TVs are two examples of items that you can trade in when you buy a new one. For example, when you buy and have a new TV installed from Best Buy, they will remove and recycle your old TV for you. There are also e-waste companies that will come and pick up these items from you or you can donate working items to schools or other organizations.

With a small amount of effort on your part, you can easily boost the amount that you recycle. If you play your cards right, you may even be able to recycle 75% more than you do now.

Take Your Green to Go

While shopping, running errands or taking the kids to soccer practice, do you ever hesitate before throwing your can away in the regular trash because there aren't recycling bins available around town? While some towns and cities have public recycling containers, others do not. So does this mean that you can only recycle in the comfort of your own home?

No way!

3 Ways to Recycle on the Go
1. Create your own recycling bin. Get a small plastic bin that you can keep in the trunk of your car or in the backseat. Throw your daily office newspaper, coffee cup, soda cans and drink bottles in it while you're out and about town for the day. Empty it into your home recycling bin every night when you come home.

2. Use your travel mug. Whether you stop at the local gas station or fuel up on coffee from the corner coffee shop, bring your own mug. Some coffee sellers even give you a discount when you use your own coffee mug rather than a disposable one. Not only does it save your money green but it saves the environment too.

3. Pass on your newspaper and magazine. If you get a daily newspaper delivered to your home or office or have a magazine subscription, pass these issues on to others when you're finished reading. If you're traveling on a plane or train, you can even hand it over to the flight attendant to pass on to the next set of passengers.

Being a busy on the go individual or family doesn't mean you have to give up your green ways. Use these three ways to take your green behaviors to go.