A lot of the time, it feels like having kids is just about the worst thing you can do if you are trying to be ‘sustainable’ or ‘green’ or whatever label a treehugger has to use to avoid ‘treehugger’! If they’re young enough, there’s the constant production of dirty diapers, the feeling that snacks need to be more ‘convenient’, so that even if you don’t buy prepackaged snacks, you’re putting them in snack size ziplocs. If your kid’s older, you’re still producing a lot of trash to the point that you find yourself saying, “Didn’t I take the trash out yesterday? Seriously, what could we possibly be throwing away on a daily basis?”

Here are some simple tips I’ve found as a family man that eases my conscience a little bit:

1. Recycle when/where you can. Be mindful when you take the family anywhere of where recycling bins can be found. Most place like zoos and parks encourage recycling. Participate! Especially at home, if you don’t know if recycling is available in your area, find out! If you’re dreading the sorting, trust me, if you set up bins in your home, it’s not that big of a deal to sort as you go.
2. Use reusable bags when you go shopping. I am one of the worst in having good intentions with this one. Many grocery stores now sell reusable grocery bags for anywhere from fifty cents to a dollar. Some even will give you a credit for bringing in your bags. If you’re like me and forget them all the time, try to stash some in your car. At the very least, always choose paper!
3. It’s never too early to teach your kids not to litter! Sesame Street has some wonderful DVDs out there to teach your kids about the environment. School House Rock just released one too! These coupled with your sage parental guidance should instill in the younglings’ minds a love of the earth and a desire to not junk it up.
4. This weekend, participate in your local Earth Day events. When I was a kid, I remember going to an Earth Day event with my father and brother that had a lot of demonstrations to show how much waste we produce. One I believe was a giant globe layed out on the ground made of crushed aluminum cans. Obviously, the details are pretty fuzzy in adulthood, but the important thing is that I still have those feelings about the planet. Wouldn’t it be great to pass that on to our children?
5. Be the example, and not just today! Earth Day is like Christmas, make it last all year! Kids learn our habits and immulate them. Don’t make it seem that Earth Day and environmentalism is just a fad or something you do every once in a while. Show the kids you care and they will too.

This list is very basic on purpose because I now live in an apartment and understand that everyone can’t do things like composting, etc. in certain situations. These are simple things that I have found to work in my life that are easy to do without huge lifestyle impact.

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