Educating Green Kids

If we do our part to educate our kids about the environment and the effects of global warming, and then teach them to conserve and recycle our world would be renewed. Doing things around the house with your children is the best way to start educating Green kids. Helping kids learn about sustainable living, recycling, reducing waste, composting and environmental awareness, will teach them to be eco-friendly. We will feel good that we are doing our part and that we are helping our children lengthen their lives and renewing their environment through living a sustainable life. Also if one family starts a program to lessen their carbon footprint, others around you will notice and will start programs in their own lives.

Here are some things that you and your kids can get started with:

Recycling involves processing used materials into new products in order to prevent the waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution.

Recyclable materials include many kinds of glass, paper, metal, plastics, textiles, and electronics. Although similar in effect, the composting or other reuse of biodegradable waste, (such as food or garden waste) is not typically considered recycling. Materials to be recycled are either brought to a collection center or picked up from the curbside, then sorted, cleaned, and reprocessed into new materials bound for manufacturing.

A fun way to recycle at home is to have different colored recycle bins for each category of recycling and make it into a fun game for the kids to guess which color bin the recycled material belongs in and why. Prizes or special outings could be a reward for the most correct answers.

Composting is simply managing the natural process of decomposition for our benefit. Natural bacteria, worms, fungi, and a variety of invertebrates help turn food and yard waste into compost. The larger decomposers (some insects and some earth worms) process material physically by tearing or breaking it apart. The smaller or microscopic organisms process material chemically. It is the chemical decomposers that release nutrients in a form that plants can absorb. They work together, feeding in your pile (and on each other), to break down materials. They need a moist environment to thrive. Some of these organisms feed directly on the waste, while others feed on the bacteria in the pile. As they feed on the compost pile, they generate a lot of heat, which helps the material decompose. The internal temperature is dependent upon the microbial activity, not heat of the sun. What belongs in my compost pile? The goal is to create favorable conditions for beneficial microorganisms to grow and do their work of decomposing vegetable and fruit scraps and yard waste.

A successful compost pile has three basic needs:

1. Air Circulation Microbes require air, otherwise the anaerobic microbes will take over, and they are stinky! Air can be incorporated into the pile by turning the pile with a shovel or hoe, or adding bulky, oddly shaped material to make little spaces.

2. Consistent Moisture Level Microbes also require moisture. The microbes live in the thin sheath of water that coats the organic material in the compost pile. If there is no water, the microbes will dehydrate and die. But too much water will displace all of the air space causing anaerobic conditions. In general, the mixture should feel about as damp as a wrung-out sponge. Pick up a handful of the mixture and squeeze: if water drips out – that’s too much, if the material falls to pieces as soon as you open your hand – that’s too dry, if the mixture stays in a clump for a few seconds before breaking apart – that’s just right.

3. The right ingredients –The bulk of the organic matter should be carbon with just enough nitrogen to aid the decomposition process. The ratio should be roughly 30 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen (30:1) by weight. Adding 3-4 pounds of nitrogen material for every 100 pounds of carbon should be satisfactory for efficient and rapid composting.  Nitrogen rich “greens” include: green leaves, coffee grounds, tea bags, plant trimmings, fruit and vegetable scraps, fresh grass clippings. Carbon rich “browns”: dried grasses, leaves, straw, wood chips, twigs, sawdust, shredded newspaper, dead plants.

Reducing Waste or the zero-waste strategy is to turn the outputs from every resource-use into the input for another use, or in other words outputs become inputs. An example of this might be the cycle of a glass milk bottle. The primary input (or resource) is silica-sand, which is formed into glass and formed into a bottle. The bottle is filled with milk and distributed to the consumer. At this point normal waste methods would see the bottle disposed in a landfill or similar, but with a zero-waste method the bottle can be saddled with a deposit, at the time of sale, which is redeemed to the bearer upon return. The bottle is then washed, refilled, and re-sold. The only material waste is the wash-water, and energy loss has been minimized. Zero waste actually can sometimes make financial sense as well. The bottle shape accounts for 98 percent of the value of the item, as a lump of glass the ‘bottle’ is worth only the final 2 percent of its value. In this sense a minimal resource (the glass) can be resold many times over at 1000 percent of its value each time.

Tree Hugger is a term often used for people who respect and love nature and are environmentally aware of their impact on this Earth. Teach your kids to also respect and love nature and take them to see some of the wonderful big old Trees on our planet and give them a hug! Take a picture and share this Green bonding experience with others.