Teaching Kids About the Environment

Unless you're fortunate enough to live in a natural setting, you may have to go out of your way to help your kids to develop an appreciation for the natural world. Here are some steps you can take to teach your children how to be environmentally friendly:

Go for a walk on the wild side—literally. Head deep into the woods so that you can immerse yourselves in the sounds of nature. If you bring along a tape recorder, you'll be able to make a game out of identifying the various nature sounds after you get home.

Hop on your bikes and observe your part of the world by bicycle. Talk with your kids about the impact of the automobile on living things and ask them to count the number of cars that drive through a busy intersection during a typical five-minute period. Talk about ways in which your family could use the car less and walk more, and the health, financial and environmental advantages of doing so.

Write an environmental history of your family. Encourage your kids to ask their grandparents about ways in which they practiced recycling (if they did) during their own growing-up years. Your kids may want to find out, for example, when paper cups, microwave popcorn bags and other garbage-producing goods first hit the grocery store shelves.

Make some garbage resolutions as a family. Calculate how much garbage your family uses in a week or a year, and then come up with some practical strategies for reducing the amount of trash you produce. Have each member of the family commit to one personal "garbage resolution"—for example, carrying a reusable cup to the drive-through the next time you buy take-out coffee.

Organize a fundraiser for a local environmental organization. Have a garage sale, a bake sale or whatever else comes to mind. You'll have a great time and raise money for a worthwhile cause at the same time.

Encourage your kids to write letters to the local newspaper asking politicians and industry leaders to take action to protect the environment. Letters from kids tend to have a far greater impact than letters from grownups, so it only makes sense to let your kids fight this particular battle for you.