How to Take Action to Help the Environment (Kids)

Unfortunately, there are a lot of environmental issues today, but that doesn't mean everyone can't help to make changes - especially if you're a kid! Kids today have more power than ever to help save the Earth from climate change, human waste and pollution. Thanks to the Internet, you've got more resources at your fingertips than your parents could have found in an entire library when they were young. Read these steps to learn about just a few of the fun and helpful things you can do to make the Earth a bit greener for all of us. Nothing you do is ever "small"; it makes a big difference that you're willing to help save our beautiful planet.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

On Your Own At Home

1
Help with recycling. Recycling programs are available practically everywhere. They clean and process certain kinds of waste so that the materials can be reused, which reduces the need for manufacturers to extract more resources from the planet. Help the adults in your home by organizing and regularly delivering their recycling for the recycling truck to pick up from the curb.^{[1]XResearch source}
- Read the guidelines printed on your family's recycling box or bin to see what you can recycle and what you can't. Usually, you can at least recycle paper, thin plastic (like milk jugs and shopping bags), thin metal (like pop cans) and glass. Depending on where you live, you might also be able to recycle thicker plastic, Styrofoam, and other materials.
- Organize the recycling. Check bottles, jars, and cans to be sure they're reasonably clean. They don't have to be spotless, but they shouldn't be half-full, either. Once everything is in order, sort the recycling by type. If you use separate bins for each type, this will make it easier to fill the right bins. Even if you don't, it's a great way to get an idea of how much of each type of material your family uses every day.
- Repeat regularly. Depending on how big and how busy your family is, this might be a good project to do once a week, or you might need to spend a little time on it every day. The nice thing is, after the first time you do it, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes each time.
  - Whenever the recycling truck is going to come the next morning, be sure to set everything out by the curb for easy pickup.
2
Think about what you personally use up and wear out. Kids grow out of clothes, toys, etc (so do some adults!) but try to keep wearing or using the things you have for a long as possible. It is a bit of a waste of the world's precious resources if you get a new backpack just because you are bored with the old one, the same goes for anything you use, or consume. Look after and appreciate what you have.^{[2]XResearch source}
3
Reduce your energy consumption. The energy your house uses for things like hot water, air conditioning, and lighting is made at different kinds of power plants that each process a particular type of fuel to turn it into energy. Some fuels are cleaner than others – hydroelectric (flowing water) power is cleaner than coal burning power, for instance – but no matter what the method, extracting energy from the environment puts a strain on it. Do your part by using as little energy as possible.^{[3]XResearch source}
- Turn off lights and electronics (such as TVs and game systems) when you're done using them. Ask your parents before you turn off the family computer, though: sometimes, computers need to stay on for various reasons. During the day, open curtains and blinds, and rely on natural light instead of electric light.
- Keep the temperature at a moderate level. If you live in a home with air conditioning, ask your parents to set it no lower than 72 °F (22 °C) during the summer months. In the winter, don't turn the thermostat up any higher than 68 degrees. (Use blankets and robes to stay warm when it is cool in the house.) At night, turn the thermostat as low as 55 degrees in rooms that nobody sleeps in.
  - Don't set thermostats lower than 55 degrees in the winter if you live somewhere cold. Any lower and the pipes could freeze during the night.
- Use less water. Take short showers instead of baths and turn the faucet off when you aren't actually using it. This includes when you're brushing your teeth, but before you spit.
- Ride your bicycle. A bicycle just may be the most environmentally friendly form of transportation ever invented after walking! If you ride one to and from school or just to get around from place to place, you are significantly reducing energy consumption and doing a great service for the earth.
4
Start reusing items. Ask your parents to invest in 3 or 4 reusable shopping bags. These usually cost a dollar or less, and they'll drastically reduce the amount of paper or plastic shopping bags coming home from the grocery store. As for your own items, start using a reusable lunch box for school, if you don't already. They look cooler than paper bags, anyway, and you can even take home your paper towels and plastic baggies for recycling. Ask for a reusable water bottle for drinks, too. Either metal or rugged plastic will do fine.
- Be sure to rinse and clean reusable shopping bags about once a week, to keep them from getting grimy. Scrub them out briskly in the kitchen sink with a dishcloth or sponge and let them dry on the dish rack for a couple of hours.
- Use what plastic shopping bags you have left as trash bags in the bathroom or your bedroom. They fit small trash cans perfectly, and will reduce your consumption of specially-made plastic trash bags.
- Be sure when you pick out a water bottle that it's made with “BPA free” plastic. This makes it safe to drink from even when it gets old. Plastics with BPA in them don't stay safe to use as bottles over a long period of time.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

In the Yard

1
Plant trees. Talk with your parents about the benefits of planting trees. Deciduous (seasonal) trees planted near windows provide cool shade in the summer when their leaves are green, and then lose their leaves in the winter to let in more sunlight. Whichever way you cut it, that helps reduce energy costs. And any kind of tree at all makes a great pollution sponge, sopping up carbon dioxide and processing it into fresh oxygen for you to breathe.
- Go over a tree guide with your parents and find trees that will grow to an appropriate height in your climate zone, without causing problems elsewhere in the yard. There's a tree for almost every height and climate.
- Be sure to get care instructions for your tree, and water it regularly after it's planted. Take care of the sapling, and by the time you're grown up, you'll have a fine, strong tree that grew up right alongside you.
2
Mow less. Some adults are very image-conscious and won't let you do this in the front yard, but most of them should be okay with the backyard, at least. Find out how often the lawn gets mowed in the winter and the summer, and then space it out by an extra week or so. Lawnmowers produce a large amount of pollution, so the less you mow your lawn, the less smog you're putting into the air. Mowing less saves money on gas costs, as well.^{[4]XResearch source}
- Offer to mow the lawn yourself in exchange for letting the grass grow a little taller. It's a good skill to know anyway; when you're a bit older, you can sometimes make pretty good money mowing other people's lawns for them.
- If your family owns a push mower, there's no need to worry about mowing less, since push mowers don't make any pollution to speak of. Of course, they're also much harder to operate than gas mowers!
3
Water the lawn less. Especially in the summer, this can make a big difference to the overall strain your city or town puts on the surrounding environment. In fact, there are many cities that require homeowners to avoid watering their lawns during the summer months for this precise reason. Of course, the downside is that the lawn will turn brown and dry in late summer. On the other hand, you've got a great explanation as to why.^{[5]XResearch source}
- In the winter, most lawns don't really need to be watered at all. If your family waters the lawn year-round, at least ask them to stop during the winter.
There are many fertilizers, herbicides (weed killers) and pesticides (bug killers) on the market to help maintain the beauty of your yard; however, some of them are dangerous for the environment when used regularly over time. Try to find out which chemicals your family uses, and then go online and look up “green” alternatives that don't hurt the environment as much. Show them to your parents and ask them to switch.
Herbicides are most commonly used on your lawn, to kill unsightly weeds. Which would you rather have: a lawn with some dandelions growing in it, or a lawn covered in plant-killing chemicals? Point this out to your parents and ask them to rely on weeding instead, even if the lawn ends up a bit less than perfect.^{[6]XResearch source}
In the garden or flower beds, some people use herbicides to get rid of weeds. Since the ground is softer in these areas, there's no need to spray. Get out some gardening gloves, a hoe, and a trowel, and spend some time every weekend pulling the weeds out by hand. It's a good chance to spend time outside with your family, and it's much cleaner than herbicides.
7
Introduce beneficial bugs. Just as there are bugs that will ruin your family's vegetable garden (such as aphids), there are other bugs that eat those bugs as a tasty snack. Many garden supply stores offer live supplies of these bugs, such as lacewings (which love to eat aphids and look pretty, too), for order through the mail. Rely on nature's own defenses, and you can use pesticide spray a lot less.
- Leave beneficial bugs where you find them, too. In many cases, your garden already has some guardian bugs in it. Garden spiders, for example, eat all kinds of other pests, and are totally harmless to your plants. When you find these bugs, leave them be and let them help out.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Family, Friend, and School Projects

1
Clean up a park. Get a group of your friends together, or find a day when your family can all go out for a morning to a nearby park. Take a few large trash bags and some gardening gloves with you. Start at the parking lot, and follow every path in the park, picking up every piece of trash you find. Within a few hours, your park will be spotless!
- If you see trash off the path, don't hesitate – go and grab it. If it's hard to reach, find a stick and try to knock and drag it closer.
- This doesn't sound like that much fun when you read it, but actually doing it is a great experience. In fact, you might like it so much that you want to set up a regular event once or twice a year to go back and clean it again.
If you ask teachers and look at the local news, you'll probably find that there are other groups of people doing cleanup operations similar to your park project. In almost all cases, these people are happy to have kids and families join up. You might get to clean up a beach, a campground, or a pretty mountain trail when you go out with a bigger crew. You'll also get the thrill of being part of a bigger movement.
3
Join other volunteer groups. Whether you like to plant trees, clean up trails, or even just spread the word about environmental change in your hometown, there's probably a local group of people who are interested in doing the same thing. Reach out to them and ask how you can help. If there isn't such a group, why not talk to your parents or school about making one yourself? You're never too young to make a difference, after all. That's just as true out in public as it is in your own living room.
- If you know friends who are just as interested as you, have them all sign a piece of paper saying they're interested, and then take it to your principal. Knowing that a lot of people want to help will make the principal more likely to consider your request.
- One program that many schools can do but few schools take advantage of is a composting program. Composting reduces waste by separating food scraps and yard debris and allowing it to decompose and turn into soil. With enough community involvement, a composting program at your school could be a big success, so start spreading the word and drumming up support among your fellow students and their parents.
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Does eating less meat or being a vegetarian help the environment?
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Plant-based food takes less space to grow and doesn't release greenhouse gasses in the way that farmed animals do, so it can be better for the environment.
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How can a dead log help the environment?
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It is a home for creatures to thrive. Kids will see the benefits of a thriving, diverse ecosystem when they look at a dead, decaying log and the many lifeforms that inhabit it.
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What are the three R's?
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Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The three R's represent three common ways to help the environment.
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Tips

This guide is only a starting point. Ask around and look online to find out more things you can do to help keep the world a safe and healthy place for us all to live.
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Don't forget to reward yourself for your hard work. Enjoy what you've helped protect: go outside and play or explore in nature whenever you can. As long as you respect and care for the natural world, it'll be yours to enjoy.
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Going vegan or vegetarian is also a great option (but be aware that your family might not want to stop eating meat)
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Warnings

Always get parental permission before you undertake a new activity. Your parents always have the last word; if they don't want you to do something, they probably have a good reason for it. Respect them; know that they love you and always do what they think is best for you, even if it doesn't always seem that way.
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