bemoreeco

In the first-ever green think tank for children in the UK, manufacturers and retailers have been urged to do away with unnecessary packaging on games and toys.

The message came the youngsters attending the summit sponsored by British Gas, called Our Planet, Our Say. The event saw the launch of a new schoolchildren’s eco-group that represents more than 9,500 schools.

The think tank, made up of 20 of the schoolchildren chosen as the “greenest”, spent a day at Closed Loop Recycling plant in East London. Members discussed recycling issues and the part recycling plays in climate change and energy usage.

By the time the group concluded its discussions, it identified three policies to tackle energy wastage that it felt should be supported by the UK government.

All of the children involved agreed that new games and toys should be sold either with no packaging materials or have packaging significantly reduced. In addition, they urged soft drink companies to begin using only clear plastic bottles, which would reduce the energy required in bottle manufacturing and recycling.

The government was also advised to introduce more recycling bins and facilities in city centre, parks and other public spaces.

For more information on this article please visit www.clickgreen.org.uk.

Earlier on this Year my son, Nils aged 7, took part in the latest Young Writers competition ‘My First Acrostic’. This competition is used as an introduction to poetry and creative writing, that children find both inspiring and fun.

Nils’s first acrostic was about why we should recycle.

My wife and I were delighted to be inform that Nils’s Recycle poem had been selected for publication. Therefore to celebrate the start of ‘WRAP’s Recycle Week’ I thought that my first post for Recycle Now readers should be this poem. So here it is;

WHY RECYCLE by Nils (7)

Why should we recycle?

How can you help the environment?

You can be recycling

Recycling is good

Every day reuse

Cycle to school

You must throw waste in a recycling bin

Carry your bottles to the bottle bank

Learn to put litter in the bin

Each of us must be responsible.

Don’t forget you can now go to the Recycle Now website to make your pledge.

If you love The Mupperts then you will love this advert they did in the 80’s. Kermit, Fozzie and even Miss Piggy lend a hand to help the earth in this NWF short film from the 1980s.

There are a lot of kids in the team at BeMoreEco so we like making sure that we post relevant articles which you eco parents may find useful.

These are our favourtites so far;

• Top 10 eco, green and fun websites for kids
  
• Recycling With Kids
• Green your kid’s lunchbox
• Top 10 Best Eco-Themed Movies for Kids
• How to Set Up an Environmentally Friendly, Green Classroom
• The Ultimate Round-Up Of Green Back-To-School Advice

Greenfest 2009 taking place on Sunday 14 June by the river in Hammersmith. 

Greenfest 2009 will be both a lovely way to spend an afternoon beside the river, and a chance to discover some stuff about the environment, cycling and the local community.

There will be a lot of environment and community groups for you to meet. Over 30 groups have already signed up to come. We will list these soon as soon as we have more information.

The Greenfest team encourages the groups to be involving, and many have things for kids to do. Also there are attractions like Kite Studios encouraging the creativity of kids. They have some selected stalls where for example you can buy herbs, sustainable outdoor furniture and hard to find things. Also a few delicious food stalls.

Greenfest organisers encourage you to come by bike. For those who do not ride regularly, you will be able to see if you can still ride, and you can try out child trailers and child seats courtesy Go Pedal and DutchBaby.

The music line up includes Havana Good Time, Sean Taylor, Rocket Number 9, Taxi Pata Pata.

Sunday 14th June 2009 1 - 5pm in Furnivall Gardens by the river in Hammersmith W6 9DJ

Going green is everywhere now and can seem pretty overwhelming at times. With so much information out there it can be hard to know where to start.

You don’t need to go green overnight; take small steps!

Recycling can be a good first step, and it’s also a great way to teach kids about waste.

There are a lot of good resources out there to help you show your kids why we recycle. One site featuring a lot of great information is Kids Recycle. It’s geared toward schools but parents will find the information helpful as well.

One good idea to help kids get involved comes from an episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 where Sara Snow visits. She took big buckets and had the two older girls use chalkboard paint to label the sides of the bins, designating which items go in which bins for recycling. She then made it into a sort of game, asking all the kids to go around the house and find the recyclable items.

Recyclezone is another website that can be helpful. The site has a wealth of games and activities to teach kids about recycling.

As for resources for parents, Earth911.com is a great site to find out where you can recycle different items. Just enter the item and your location and it will do all the guess work for you.

Recycling is becoming easier all the time. Most towns have curbside pick-up, so be sure to check with your city to see if they offer this convenient service. If not, ask about a drop-off locations. It’s a bit more work, but it’s definitely worth it in the end.

Recycling is one small step everyone can take to help our environment. Once you take your first step, the next will be even easier.

An original post for 5 Minutes For Going Green  - Written by Lisa (Retro Housewife Goes Green).

Read more about Lisa’s quest to be more green at Retro Housewife Goes Green.

“If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.” 

-Rachel Carson

As a society we are becoming aware of the benefits of unstructured play in nature to a child’s social and emotional development. Instead of being told—as I was—to “go outside and play,” children are spending more time indoors and at scheduled social events.

Here is a list of some organisations which provide insight and ideas and rescources for greening our children:

• Children & Nature Network (C&NN)
• GREENHOUR.ORG, 
• KaBOOM! i
• The Sierra Club’s Building Bridges to the Outdoors Project 
• Take A Child Outside Week i

For the full detailed breakdown of these excellent organisations read the full article at SuperEco

Source; Super Eco

So you’re packing your kid’s lunch to avoid the whole Mystery Meat thing. Food from home is better than whatever’s slopped onto the tray by the Lunch Lady, right? But what about what you pack that lunch IN? Many insulated vinyl lunchboxes are chock full of lead, not exactly what you want cozying up to the homemade or organic treats you’ve lovingly prepared. So what to do? Alternatives, baby. And they’re not as hard to come by as you might think.

Laptop Lunches is one-stop shopping for lead-free lunchware. Their Laptop System includes an uber-cool bento set, insulated carrier, and a water bottle. I’d exchange the plastic bottle pictured for a stainless steel version, though; Kleen Kanteen makes several sizes and they’re BPA-free, reusable, incredibly durable (mine have lasted years now), and eco-friendly..

Want just the bento? Ichibankan has a great selection.

Brown-bagging it? Not recommended—kids already toss an astounding 67 pounds of lunch trash per year. Each. That’s a lot of baloney sandwiches and mushy apples. Instead, go reusable with a stainless steel food jar containing last night’s leftovers, tucked into washable canvas lunch bag. Or go one better with the Eco Lunch kit, a cotton bag containing a 2-tier stainless steel lunch container, bamboo utensils, and cloth napkins. No fuss, no waste. Score!

Go retro. Remember when lunch boxes were made of metal? They still are.

Want more ideas? Go here.

Source; Super Eco

When Good Housekeeping magazine interviewed the very good looking Brooke Shields, mother of Rowan, 5, and Grier, 2, she said;

“When you make choices to live better, greener, and more organic, it’s not always so clear-cut; that is, you want to do the right thing, but you also have to do what works for you and your lifestyle,” Shields wrote recently. “Sometimes that means choosing the lesser of two evils.

“When you become a parent, you would think the choices become more obvious, and they do — you always know who comes first — but then there are still trade-offs; there always are. I’ve changed all our products to eco-friendly ones, but sometimes I have to bring in something less eco-friendly as a supplement. I use all recycled paper products except toilet paper.

“I realize that just because I can’t go all the way and in every area, I still can make a sizable difference. In my mind, I may still lament that I haven’t gone even farther…. In my actions, though, I try always to be forward-moving, to focus on the change I am making.”

From Animation to Live Action, Great Green Viewing