Friday, April 22, 2011

It's Earth Day




Trust me I'm no saint.  My recycle bin is such a mess sometimes the recycle man won't even pick it up.  I don't always make the best choices for our environment so I'm not preaching, but I am going to ask that you all take a moment to reflect on our beautiful Earth and all the gifts it gives us everyday.  The air we breathe, the beautiful lands that we run on with our kids and travel to just to absorb the beauty.  The ability to grow food, flowers and to sustain such an immense wildlife.  The Earth supports our hobbies such as hiking, swimming in lakes and rivers, white water rafting, camping, fishing, the list could go on forever.  I'm sensitive to this because our environment has taken such a hit this year, the oil spill in the Gulf (technically last year) and the tsunami in Japan followed by the nuclear leak and all of the tornadoes in the Midwest.  Is is possible that Mother Nature is getting revenge on us for all our years of abuse or is our history full of horrific environmental disasters?  I'm worried that they're coming faster and more ferocious as the years go on.  Another thing that seems to have fallen by the waste side is teaching our kids about the beauty of the Earth and how to take care of it and respect it.  I already posted about some easy household things you can change here, today I'm going to give you 10 easy ways to get your children involved:

1.  Have your kids click here once a day to help save the rain forest.

2.  Try to start t a recycling program at your kids school.  My nephew's school recycles capri suns.  All you have to do it send a letter requesting kids bring capri sun's in their lunch instead of other juice boxes, set up a place for them to throw them away and offer to pick them up/recycle them once a week.  It's a good start for all the future recyclers of America.

3.  My kids throw their uneaten lunch in the compost bin at their school.

4.  Do your kids love Mumble from Happy Feet or some other Wildlife animal?  Google "adopt a wildlife animal" and choose from dozens of options.  Teach them that the donation will help ensure the future of our wildlife.

 5.  Visit your nature center often to instill a love of nature in your kids.  It's always great to see animals in their natural habitat 

6.  Make sure they color on all sides of the paper before you get rid of it.

7.  I know you're going to think I'm crazy but visit this site to plant a bee sanctuary.  I know they're pesky and scary to kids but they are so necessary to our environment.  Without pollination from the honeybee, plants can no longer grow and eventually everything living (animals and humans) will die off.

8.  Have your kids plant a tree.  Even better a native tree!  Always try to plant native to avoid some other species chocking out the natural landscape of your area. 

9.  Make a peanut butter bird feeder with your kids.

10.  Let them help you plant a veggie garden this Spring.  Kids will learn to respect their veggies when they see how much hard work goes into growing them.

Happy Birthday Peter, our beautiful Earth Day baby!

No comments:

Post a Comment