Participate in a family Buy Green Shopping Day. As a family, discuss how your buying habits can help reduce pollution. Before going to the grocery store, create a list of items that might have a green version available in your local market. Typical items to investigate might include paper, cleaning products, laundry detergents, beauty products, trash bags, light bulbs, recycled paper products, and locally grown or organic produce. Discuss how a Fair-trade Certificate on coffee and produce guarantees that farmers were paid a fair price for their harvest. When you get to the grocery store, work together to discover what green products are carried in the store. As you shop, investigate how the items that you typically buy are packaged. Try to purchase products that use the least amount of packaging.
In preparation for this outing, you may choose to purchase canvas shopping bags and paint them as a fun family project.
Extend this eco-friendly awareness to other purchases that your family makes during the year. Look into eco-friendly alternatives as you purchase items such as appliances, vehicles, clothes, paint, showerheads and energy. The Web site, GreenPeople.org contains an extensive directory of eco-friendly products and may help you make purchasing decisions.
An exercise in un-buying: Teach family members to ask themselves these three questions before they buy products:
- Do I really want this, or is it an impulse purchase?
- Do I really need this, or can I get by without it? Can I borrow this item or buy it used?
- Is it worth the cost to the environment?
Neighborhood Extension: Hold an annual or bi-annual swap meet where neighbors trade items they no longer need or want for items they can use.
Eco-House Detectives
After visiting the EekoHouse to learn about ways to conserve energy, pretend that you are eco-house detectives and complete a family investigation to uncover ways that your family may be wasting energy.
Complete a family home energy audit. Energy audits may be found on the Internet. The Leonardo Academy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing pollution, offers an extensive home checklist in their Cleaner and Greener program.
Water Waste
Investigate ways to save water in your house. Involve children in this fun hands-on activity to determine if your household toilets are functioning properly. Put ten drops of food coloring in your toilet tanks. Check the toilets a half an hour later to see if you have a leaky toilet. If the toilet has a leak, the water in the bowl will be colored. Repair any leaky toilets. Brainstorm a list of other ways that you can save water. Check-in periodically as a family to discuss how you are doing. If you have a monthly water bill, you can discuss and compare how much water you use each month.
