Last week I wrote about my experience with Borders – that I was overjoyed about their new “no bag unless requested” policy. Why? Plastic bags are made from ethylene, a petroleum byproduct. In the United States, approximately 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make plastic bags that Americans consume.
With the great “greening” push many think it is the government’s responsibility to educate consumers on the basics of living a more sustainable lifestyle. I say, “poppycock!” Okay, honestly, I don’t normally say “poppycock,” but today I am saying it loud and clear: it is our responsibility as parents and caring people in the community to educate each other and our families on a less-wasteful lifestyle.
While it is still important for our governments and communities to set a positive green example, it is even more important that we teach our children these examples ourselves as well.
By educating our children on conservation oriented practices we are teaching them to be more caring citizens. When children learn a life-lesson at an early age, it becomes an intricate and important part of their lifestyle – lessons like not throwing trash out the window and not physically hitting others. These are important things to learn. So is greening and conservation.
A surprising benefit of practicing conservation techniques is most basic conservation practices helps us be less wasteful AND saves money. What a great lesson to give our children which they can use for the rest of their lives – a way to save money and help the world at the same time.
Teach children to bring reusable bags to use for grocery’s and your other shopping needs as well as caring odds and ends needed in daily life.
Reusable bags are sold everywhere and most only cost penny’s. I got the Whole Foods “I Used To Be A Plastic Bottle” bags for $1.00 and $.50. Online, a great reusable bag resource is www.reusablebags.com. Some stores give away the bags and all are a fantastic idea to get started educating our family’s about a greener lifestyle.
Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! http://www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - http://www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com
Great Christmas gift ideas from Bethany! You go girl!
Posted by: Shawna Coronado | March 08, 2009 at 04:51 PM
Bethany sewed up a bunch of her own when she was home over Christmas and added them to the Christmas gifts she gave everyone. What better gift than a gift for tomorrow??
Posted by: babs m | March 08, 2009 at 02:57 PM
I like that one "I used to be a plastic bottle"! I agree that we need to educate children. In our case, kids brought 5 reusable bags from school. One 5th-grader got the idea, school administration supported it and here we are, proudly shopping with bright green bags.
Posted by: Tatyana | March 06, 2009 at 02:03 PM