What are some ways to raise environmental awareness?
Answers
by planting tree and conserving the natural environment
We are at an environmental tipping point and practicing an eco-friendly lifestyle has become of utmost importance. Getting your kids on board can do wonders for your family’s environmentally friendly status and feelgood factor. Let’s take a look at a few ways in which you can promote an eco-friendly lifestyle in your kids.
“It is up to us to pass the knowledge along to our children and ensure that they start, from a much younger age than we did, adapting their lives to take care of the environment and not just consume its resources”. – Huffington Post
Introduce Them to Everything Local
Supporting local produce and production is an excellent way in which you can help the environment with immediate effect. Make regular visits to the farmer’s market a fun family activity. It’s also the perfect opportunity to explain to your little ones where food really comes from and that the earth is a resource that nourishes us but also needs tending. Teach your kids about buying local, supporting farmers and eating healthily.
Include them in the process by asking them to choose ripe fruits and veggies from the baskets or help you decide on a dish that you can make as a family. Explain to them why products which do not look perfect are probably healthier-bugs are pro’s at choosing the best tasting produce!
Start a Veggie Garden At Home
After visiting a farmer’s market, ask your kids if they would like to grow their own food as well. If they show interest, you could start a gardening project. Initiating the project yourself is bound to get them interested and they will soon be right in there getting their hands into the soil. Growing a veggie garden teaches children (and adults!) responsibility and discipline and helps them understand how they can make a change. Choose foods that your kids love and would be excited to harvest and enjoy watering your garden together and watching the seedlings sprout or the veggies grow.
Recycle At Home
Another way to inspire your kids to be environmentally friendly, is to teach them about recycling. Make sure that you have a recycling bin at home, and teach them which items can be recycled.
You can even invest in your very own worm farm which produces the magical worm-pee that can be used in your compost for your veggie garden.
Best of Both Sides
When your kids are still small, they absolutely love drawing and being creative. Instead of giving them new blank paper each time, consider giving them recycled paper, or ask them to draw on both sides of the page before getting a new one.
Teach your Kids About Solar Power
Apart from teaching children to switch off the lights and plugs for appliances that you aren’t using; you should teach them about natural resources. Ask them to help you hang the washing to dry outside instead of using the dryer. You could even create a narrative around it and introduce the sun as a superhero. Buy a couple of solar jars to use at night as nightlights, whilst eating dinner, to sit outside on the deck or whilst we are in load-shedding mode. There are so many solar powered rechargeable products on the market; from cellphone chargers to solar powered garden lights that come on when the sun goes down
At the end of the day, it’s about setting the right example. Your kids will be watching what you are doing, so make sure that you inspire an eco-friendly lifestyle on a daily basis. Making these activities fun will help your kids to establish a good relationship with doing good – and that’s what it is all