Greening Your Back to School Routine

This is a guest post by Amy Lizee with Environment911. Environment911.org was started by a brother and sister team out of Port Moody, BC, Mckenna (age 11) and Morgan (age 7) who wanted to share an interactive website for individuals to come and discuss everything  from green business to natural disasters.  They feel it is important for people to come together and share their thoughts, ideas and visions for the future to help make the world a better place.  

 

Greening Your Back to School Routine

Whether you are going into kindergarten or your final year at school, it is never to late to focus on greening your back to school routine.

 Walk, ride a bike or take the bus.

One of the easiest ways to green your back-to-school routine is to set up a buddy system for walking to school. You can do this with multiple students or have one or two parents walk a group over to the school.  Not only is this good exercise, but your parents will also save money on gas by not driving.  If you’re not a fan of walking, you can also ride a bike or take the bus with your friends!

Come prepared with an eco-backpack full of green supplies.

If you are able, try to reuse your supplies from last year in order to save money and the environment.  However, if you do need new supplies, you should ask your parents for ones that are non-toxic and/or use recycled materials. These days you can buy recycled newspaper pencils, environmentally safe pens, recycled notebooks and anything else you need without harming the environment!

Bring a litter less lunch.

There are many ways that your lunch can help the environment. First, you can bring a reusable lunchbox to hold all your snacks and food. Inside your lunchbox, you should have your food in reusable containers. This way you don’t have to throw away plastic bags. Once you have those, you need a reusable water bottle, which is healthier than sugary  juice boxes and creates less waste than water bottles – which BTW, take about a 1000 years to decompose in the landfill!

Take part in your classroom-recycling program.

Most schools, and probably your’s too, have a recycling program.  These recycling programs can be anything from recycling used paper and supplies to old clothes and items from home.  By recycling, you are helping the environment because whatever you recycle can be made into something else, instead of turned into garbage.

 Start a compost pile.

On top of a recycling program, a compost pile is another great idea. If your school doesn’t have one, you should ask your Principal or PTA to start one.  A compost pile will let you get rid of apple cores, banana peels and other food items you don’t eat, without adding to the garbage pile.

It is important to set a good example for your family and friends. By caring about the world around us and being a part of your schools sustainable living programs, you are helping to make a difference.

What other ideas do you have?