IDEA SET
IDEA SET
Get ideas for how you can "go green" in your home, school, or community.
Grades
3 - 12+
Subjects
Earth Science, Experiential Learning
Get ideas for how you can "go green" in your home, school, or community. Go beyond recycling and turning off lights—really work to make a difference.
Clean up an ocean beach or the beach of a lake or pond.
Watch for drips in any faucets in your home. Ask an adult to fix them.
Recycle them when they can no longer be recharged.
Collect things you no longer use and clothes you've outgrown. Give them to charity.
Plant trees in your neighborhood or community.
Clean up litter on your street.
When traditional lightbulbs burn out, replace them with compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
Borrow books and movies from a local library instead of buying new copies.
During the holidays, recycle wrapping paper and ribbons. You can also wrap presents in the comics section of the newspaper.
Research ways to save water, such as watering the lawn early in the morning or late in the day, using drip irrigation, and using a bucket instead of a hose to wash the car.
Under the supervision of an adult, investigate how to safely use, store, and dispose of cleaning products, fertilizer, oil, and other harmful substances. What types of products are safe for the environment?
Don't forget to wear gloves! Classify the trash by type, such as food, paper, or plastic. Make note of what could have been recycled or reduced somehow. Come up with suggestions to reduce your family’s trash production.
Gauge your greenness by playing the Human Footprint Interactive. You'll discover the impact of your choices and learn things like how many bananas you'll probably eat in your lifetime.
As you watch the news on television or read the newspaper, note issues that are related to conservation. How can you help?
Have family members go from room to room creating a list of products. Then identify the resources used to make each product. Divide the resources into two categories: renewable and non-renewable. Have a family discussion about the use and conservation of products made from nonrenewable resources in your home.
Use the Environmental Protection Agency's Household Emissions Calculator to figure out how you can reduce your family's greenhouse gas emissions.
Plant shrubbery, trees, or other plants to help prevent erosion on hillsides or land without enough plant life to keep the dirt in its place.
Clean up a vacant parking lot or piece of land in your community.
Start a recycling program in your community.
With an adult, clean up a stream, river, or other body of water in your community.
Test the water and soil in and around your home.
Practice backyard conservation, such as planting vegetation, cleaning up green spaces, or hanging a bird feeder in the backyard.
In layers, add “wet” waste, such as kitchen scraps or grass clippings. Add “dry” waste, such as dry leaves or hay. Add some water as you go. Fruit and vegetable material is great for compost; never add raw meat, eggs, or human or pet waste. Consider getting worms to help with the project.
Ask a teacher to help you get bins for recycling in the lunchroom. Ask the principal to buy recycled paper.
Use this online tool to help. Start a school-wide campaign encouraging everyone to use less water.
Encourage your family to shop locally. Always bring reusable shopping bags to stores.
Purchase small dark-colored fish NATIVE to your area and put them in any water plants or human-made ponds in your yard where mosquitoes lay eggs. The fish will eat the larvae, and no chemicals will be needed to prevent mosquitoes! NOTE: You should never introduce animals into non-manmade environments such as creeks or ponds.
How do the people who live upstream behave? Are they aware of those downstream, or do they contaminate the water? Do you do things that might pollute water for others? What are some steps your family could take to minimize its impact on air and water quality?
Take something that you would otherwise throw out and find a way to make it into something else that you can use. For example, make a bag with fabric from clothes you don't want. Or turn a broken bowl into a plant pot.
Instead of throwing away items such as margarine tubs, jelly jars, or milk cartons, think of other uses for them, like pots for house plants.
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May 20, 2022
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