10 tips for kids to be more environmentally friendly

Making your life more environmentally friendly doesn’t always include planting trees or starting compost piles. Caring about the environment means taking responsibility. It also means finding new ways to consume — buying, using, throwing away — things. Here are 10 tips kids of all ages can do to make their lives a little greener.

- As part of your weekly chores, volunteer to separate your family’s recycling. That’s a chore many grownups don’t have time to get to, and it makes them more likely to just throw out all trash.

- Don’t trash; donate old toys to needy children or even sell them at yard sales. That way, someone else finds a new way to play and you don’t add more stuff to the landfill.

- Watch how much water you use. For example, don’t keep the tap running when you’re brushing your teeth. Take shorter showers and ask your parents to buy a low-flow showerhead. Don’t buy summer toys that run the hose all the time

- As long as it’s OK with mom or dad, walk or bike to your friend’s house rather than have someone drive you. Not only will you get some exercise and fresh air, it could save many gallons of gas over time.

- If you have electronics that need to be plugged into the wall with chargers, such as cell phones, iPods or laptops, unplug the charger when you’re not using it. Those chargers still use electricity even when they’re just plugged in and not charging. Over time, that saves energy and, ultimately, reduces air pollution.

- Ask mom and dad if you can start a vegetable garden in your backyard using recycled containers. You get to learn where your food comes from, and you’ll save gas because a truck didn’t have to bring your food to your store.

- When playing in the park or going for a walk, bring along a bag to collect trash. The more trash you pick up, the less that will wash into nearby streams after a big rainstorm.

- Make covers for your textbooks out of recycled materials. Use brown paper grocery bags or old newspapers. Use the comics section for decoration. Also, write on both sides of the paper in your notebooks. That way, you save paper, which means you save trees, and money.

- Find ways to reuse things. Make or buy cloth shopping bags — you can make them out of old clothes and sheets. Buy a reusable water bottle and fill it up at the tap or water fountain instead of spending money on bottled water. Invest in rechargeable batteries so you can reuse them. Organize a swap among your friends with things you would throw away.

- Experience the great outdoors. That’s the best way to see why caring about the environment is so important. Oh, and feel free to plant a few trees along the way.