The environment is constantly in the news, with “Global warming”, “Carbon footprints”, “Greenhouse gases” and several other environmental terms  capturing the  headlines across the globe.  The environmental awareness of kids is also becoming increasingly important, with many schools worldwide, starting Eco clubs and vegetable gardens.  In Jamaica we have The Schools Environment Programme initiated by Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), which has been delivered to over 350 schools.  Participating schools carry out activities in four main areas: Managing garbage; greening of school grounds; strengthening or establishing an environmental club and environmental research.  Here at Kid ‘N’ Play JA we will be running a series of environmental posts and exploring different ways to include children, teaching them to be good stewards of  the environment.nike free 5 mens

In this our first post on the environment, here are a few ideas to help your kids Go Green.

Practice the 3 Rs of Conservation: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce

• Turn off the lights when leaving a room, turn off the water when brushing your teeth, use only what you need and save the rest for a later date.  Unplug electronics when not using them and turn off the TV and video games (I am sure with the JPS bills there is a lot of motivation to reduce our energy consumption!). Turn off the computer and video games, get the kids outside.  Instead of the plastic grocery/scandal bags, opt for the larger reusable bags.  Also, look for items with little packaging.

Reuse

• Find creative ways to re-purpose your items and get a second life.  Art projects can utilize the inside surface of  cereal boxes and  juice boxes.  Newspaper can be used for Eco-wrapping paper or book wrap.  You can save bottle tops for craft projects or to use for teaching small kids to sort or count Cheap Girls Air Jordan 11. Create a box that your kids can put scraps in for using later or that they can go to when they want to craft.

• Use gift bags instead of traditional wrapping paper.  The bags can always be reused.  Instead of plastic disposable (water) bottles, Ziploc bags, use reusable/refillable  containers.
• Donate clothes and toys

Recycle

• Glass, paper, plastic, aluminium, steel can all be recycled.  Children can collect and sort these items and accompany you to the recycling depot.
• Items you can take to the JET Recycling Depot are PET and HDPE plastic bottles and white office paper.  Our following post will discuss Recycling in Jamaica.  JET does not pay for recyclables, and they do not charge for the service.  They also have a truck, donated by Pepsi, which can collect plastic bottles from schools in Kingston, St. Catherine and Clarendon new balance new.  If you would like to find out about a pick up for your school, please call the JET office at 960-3693.  JET’s Recycling Depot at 11 Waterloo Road is open between 9.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. Mondays to Fridays.

• Recycling saves energy and money-It takes less energy to process recycled material than it does virgin material.  Therefore, the savings realized with the lower energy cost, will be passed on to the consumer.
• Recycling decreases pollution and landfill space.

These are just a few of the many environmentally-friendly actions you and your kids can take to protect the environment.  It’s not just teaching them to be “green”, but instead teaching them to be good stewards of the earth and to respect the environment.

What kinds of things do you do with your children to teach them about the environment?  Have you started a vegetable garden, planted a tree or volunteered for a beach clean up?  We would love to hear about your experience.

Please leave your comments below.

Photo (recycle symbol): Steve Snodgrass
Visit Jamaica Environment Trust’s website for more information.