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10 easy tips to for family eco awareness
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Earth Hour 2016 will be on Saturday, March 19, from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. during participants' local time. It will be the 10th year anniversary of the campaign's beginnings in Sydney, Australia.
Earth Hour is a worldwide movement for the planet, founded and organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
The annual event is held worldwide with the aim of encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour, as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.
It was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007, but is now celebrated in more than 7,000 cities and towns worldwide and engages a massive mainstream community on a broad range of environmental issues.
Earth Hour has been supported by companies and organisations around the world and endorsed by leaders and celebrities from Nelson Mandela, Miranda Kerr, Kuni Naidoo and Al Gore to Cate Blanchett, Stephen Fry and the International Space Station!
For more information on Earth Hour, go to the official website at www.earthhour.org.
Earth hour is just one hour in the year, but it's important to get kids and families to work together all year round to continue thinking about how to be environmentally aware and create a better, healthier planet.
Here are 10 easy tips, adapted from the website NaturallySavvy.com, to encourage kids to get environmentally aware.
- The power switch. Teach children to turn off lights when they leave a room and turn off the TV if they are not watching it. You might feel like a nag, but it's worth it!
- Pull the plug: Even when electronics and appliances are turned off, they still consume energy if plugged in the electrical outlet. Conserve energy by teaching older children to unplug their game systems, computers, chargers, or audio equipment. Little ones can participate too by becoming the family “plug police” and tell grownups of any unused household equipment that is plugged into an electrical outlet.
- Tighten up. Encourage children to check water taps in the house to make sure they are tightened and inform a grownup if any faucets leak. A drop-per-second leak wastes about 2,400 gallons of water a year.
- Turn off the tap. Water should not be running while children brush their teeth. Teach children to turn off the tap and reduce shower time to conserve energy.
- Collect rainwater. Water can be recycled too! Children often enjoy collecting rainwater. The next time it rains, place a bucket outside (or put a large container under a gutter downpipe. Put a heavy rock or brick inside to prevent it from tipping over. Kids can use the collected water to feed household plants.
- Use community resources like libraries. Often overlooked these days, libraries not only have thousands of books, CDs, audio tapes and DVDs, they also hold story time, music classes and movie events. Some communities also have toy lending libraries. Don't just buy more stuff.
- Pass it on and donate. Children feel good knowing they are helping their community. So go through old clothes and household items with your kids and let them deliver to the charity shop.
- Litter free lunch challenge. Try to eliminate as much packaging from your kids' lunchboxes as possible. Use reusable containers and fresh food over processed.
- Reuse or recycle. Teach children to place recyclable items in the recycle bin - an important way to help the environment. Find creative ways to reuse household items like bottles and cereal boxes.
- Bike or Walk. Going somewhere doesn't always mean having to use a car. Encourage your children to walk or ride their bikes for short trips. For younger children, grab your running shoes and walk or bike with them. In addition to reducing pollution, the entire family will benefit from some exercise.
For more great ideas, tips and news go to Naturally Savvy.
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