Ways to Help at Home


Apr. 29, 2009

What You Will Read

On this page you will learn about ways you can help the environment at home. Some things you will learn and read about are the Three Rs, worm bins, saving energy, and saving water.

Mar. 19, 2009

The Three R's

Did you know that each year, America throws away 50 billion food and drink cans, 27 billion glass bottles and jars and 65 million plastic and metal jars and can covers? 30% of our waste is packaging material. 85% of garbage is sent away to the landfill where it can take 100-400 years to decompose. Glass has been found 4000 years old and in perfect condition!

Reduce means “less of”. Here are some ways to reduce.
-Try to buy things with LESS packaging. Some products will say this on the label.
-Have you ever REALLY wanted something and didn’t use it? DON’T BUY ANYTHING YOU WON’T USE! If your friend has it, you could ask if you could borrow it. If they say no, play with it when you come over.
-Your favorite magazine might be on the computer! Lots of magazines and newspapers are also going online! Don’t be a tree waster. Use the Internet.

Here are some ways you can REUSE! Some ways are worm bins, compost piles and making houses for your stuffed animals out of cardboard.
-“Paper or plastic?” Do you hear that every trip to the grocery store? Bring some cloth sacks.
-Don’t bring a lunch bag to school. Take a metal lunch box.
-Instead of throwing away all those old clothes, why don’t you give them to charity? If they’re too messy, use them as art smocks.
-Use paper on both sides before you take a new piece.

Paper bags, soda cans, milk cartons, and plastic bottles are recyclable. So recycle them! Do Earth a favor. Buy things that are made of recycled material. When you’re done with them, recycle them again! Remember to rinse and sort recyclables.

Hey! Remember the Three R’s!

Citations

“The Three R’s”. FactMonster. 11 February 2009. www.FactMonster.com

Apr. 30, 2009

Saving Water

The world is covered by about 72% of water but only 1% of that water is usable for drinking. The rest is salt water which is not good for drinking or watering plants. Therefore it is very important to conserve as much water as possible.

You might be thinking you can’t save water because you’re a kid, but you can. You could start by buying a rain barrel and connecting it to your down spout to collect rain. You can then use the rain water to water your plants, flowers and garden instead of using the water from the hose.

Here are simple things you can do to help conserve water:

  • Use a broom to clean the sidewalk instead of the hose.

  • Check for leaks in your pipes and faucets.

  • Turn water off as you brush your teeth.

  • Put mulch around your plants, it prevents runoff.

  • Maximize your laundry loads.

  • Create a rain garden.

  • Change to water saving toilets.


    • Imagine if everyone on the earth followed just a few of these ideas to save water! Just one gallon saved per day would conserve over 6 billion gallons of fresh water a day!

    Citations:

    http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php
    http://www.epa.gov/watersense/kids/whysave.htm
    http://www.livescience.com/mysteries/070621_llm_water.html br />