KINDNESS TO THE ENVIRONMENT

• Clean up trash and refrain from littering. Keep your neighborhood looking its best by promoting a regular neighborhood cleanup day for homeowners.
• To reduce air pollution, consider these options instead of driving: carpooling, taking public transportation, biking, or walking.
• Plant trees and plants in your yard.
• Recycle all aluminum, plastic, newspapers, papers, etc.
• After obtaining permission, plant flowers around a school, church, park, or other public area.
• Make signs with tips on how to save energy and water. Post these reminders in stores and other well-traveled areas.
• Fix faucet leaks promptly, and don’t leave water running.
• Use a clothesline to dry your clothes instead of a dryer.
• Cut down on the energy you use by lowering the heat and turning off lights, TV, etc., when you are not using them.
• Decide what you want before you open the refrigerator.
• Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes to save water, electricity, and soap.
• Make sure your car has a tune-up regularly. Unchecked cars can waste fuel and pollute the environment.
• Create contests for poster, T-shirt, bookmark, and stationery designs. Proceeds from the sale of these items can be used to support environmental action groups.
• Take short showers to conserve water.
• Make or buy recycled paper.
• Investigate the purchase of recycled paper for school use.
• Try not to buy any foam packing materials or aerosol products.
• Make birdhouses and feeders or other wildlife feeding stations. These can be sold as a fundraiser.
• Give house plants to teachers, friends, or coworkers to display as air fresheners.
• Give people a mug for coffee or tea to cut down on the use of disposable cups.
• Begin recycling programs in your school, business, or neighborhood, or analyze the ones already in place and suggest improvements.
• Organize spring and fall clean-up projects. Choose an area that needs attention and collect debris, abandoned items, and other materials that have collected in the area.
• Plan a school field trip to a sewage treatment facility, sanitary landfill, zoo, arboretum, or nature center.
• Make a scrapbook of newspaper and magazine articles about environmental issues. Include labels from products that are and aren’t “Earth friendly,” and explain why.
• Help maintain park, bicycle, and recreation trails.
• Make a large Earth on a bulletin board and have each student trace his or her hand and write one thing they can do on it to save our planet. Staple the construction paper hands around the world and post this message: “The future of the Earth is in our hands.”