How to Send Children Back-to-School Green
Extend Eco-Friendly Lifestyles Into Kids' Educational Environments
Jul 30, 2008
Armed with the right information, it's easy for moms and dads to find ways to extend eco-friendly lifestyles into kids' educational environments without sacrificing any of the necessities.
Purchase Environmentally Friendly School Clothes
There are tons of companies getting on the bandwagon, and catering to those families that choose to live environmentally friendly lifestyles. Companies such as Earth Wear Organics, Garden Kids, Thirteen Mile Lamb and Wool Company and Grass Roots Natural Goods all offer clothing that’s made out of organically grown cotton, hemp and other environmentally friendly materials.
Purchasing a few of kids' school clothes from thrift stores is also a great example of recycling used materials to satisfy their back-to-school needs.
Choose Environmentally Friendly School Supplies and Reuse Old Ones
Parents can purchase eco-friendly school supplies from companies such as Green Earth Office Supplies that sell backpacks made out of hemp or rubber; binders made out of recycled vinyl; and pencils made out of recycled paper, reclaimed wood, or reclaimed denim. Buying recycled writing paper, and crayons made out of soy is also an excellent way to implement kids’ green lifestyles into their school environments.
Another way to send-children back-to-school green is to avoid purchasing school supplies that they have leftover from the previous year. If youngsters already have pencils, scissors, lunchboxes, and backpacks--it makes no sense to re-buy those items.
Computer ink cartridges do their share of polluting the environment, so refilling them instead of tossing them in the trash is grand example of reducing waste, and reusing materials whenever possible.
Use Reusable Containers to Pack Kids’ Lunches
Ditch the paper bags and opt for reusable containers to pack kids’ lunches. To maintain the “green” theme, parents should also avoid purchasing individually wrapped snack cakes, chips and juices, as they are waste of good paper. These items can be purchased in regular sizes, and portioned out in containers that can be washed after each use and reused throughout the school year.
Walk Children to School a Few Days a Week
When the weather is compliant, children can be walked to school at least twice a week. This will dramatically decrease the amount of pollution in the air, conserve precious gas resources, and shave a few dollars off of weekly budgets too.
Parents will get that warm fuzzy feeling knowing that when they send their children back-to-school green, they are preserving the earth’s valuable resources, and still giving their kids everything they need to achieve educational success.
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