Earth Day is one of my favourite days of the year. There aren't any gifts required, there aren't any big fancy meals, there are no mythical characters - the day is all about celebrating our beautiful planet. Over the years I have involved my daughters in many Earth Day scavenger hunts, Earth Day picnics and all kinds of fun Earth Day activities. To me, the best part of Earth Day is getting outside and enjoying nature. (Be sure to check out all of our printable Earth Day activities for kids).
This year we will be heading out for a walk and we will also be taking a 3R's Earth Day Pledge. One of the greatest developments to come out of the Earth Day and environmental movement of the late '80s and early '90s was the creation of the 3Rs.
What are the 3Rs?
The 3Rs are so familiar now, you know them as reduce, reuse, and recycle. So simple, memorable and now part of our everyday vernacular. These three words shifted the focus of the environmental movement to 3 simple words with endless interpretations. Reduce - decrease your environmental impact, your use of single-use products, reduce your carbon emissions, reduce...fill in the blank. Reuse - find ways to reuse the items you already have, repurpose broken items, and if you can't use them, pass them along and someone else can reuse it. Recycle - recycle items whenever you can, purchase items that are made from recycled materials, recycle...fill in the blank.
It is easy to drift away from these 3R's and sometimes we need to refocus on the 3 R's - sometimes we can lose sight of the most important things. This is why we created a 3 R's Earth Day pledge - to determine the things we would pledge to do in our house in the coming year. Here is what we came up with. This is a really great Earth Day activity for kids of all ages to take part in. The first step is printing off our 3R's Earth Day Pledge. Then brainstorm and discuss the ways you could be reducing, reusing and recycling more.
3R's Earth Day Pledge - Earth Day Activity for Kids
Reduce - Our city has a fabulous waste management system. Our city picks up and properly disposes of our garbage, recycling, and organic waste...right from the end of our driveway. All we have to do is sort it and our waste is carted off. Unfortunately, this means that we have lost sight of the end game. Where is all that trash going? Yes, it's disposed of properly - but it has to go somewhere. Our family goal is to reduce our garbage output. We have a city-regulated large garbage can - this year we are going to reduce our garbage can size to a medium can (the city only allows homeowners to dispose of what is inside the city garbage can). We will be moving from a bin that accepts 3 garbage bags to 1 ½ garbage bags...half the size. We pledge to find ways to reduce the garbage we take into our home and therefore reduce what we throw away. What could you reduce?
Reuse - My girls have reached the age where they are no longer playing with piles of toys. We have downsized our toy collection substantially. What we haven't downsized is our collection of books...yikes we have a lot of books. This year we pledge to find homes for our beloved children's books. Some we will keep, but most we will donate. I have been planning on donating to the Children's Book Bank, here in Toronto for years. Well, this is the year we make a BIG donation. It will be hard to let go of some of our books, but knowing that they are going to good use will help ease the separation pains. What could you reuse?
Recycle - This one is a little bit harder...we are pretty good at recycling at home. We talked about this one for a while. Where we would like to make an improvement is when we are outside our house. You know when you eat out and there isn't a recycling bin...all you can do is put all your garbage in the trash can - even though you know some of it is recyclable. Man, that always stings me. What can we do? This year we pledge to choose to eat at establishments that recycle and if they do not, then we will try our best to take our recyclables to a recycling bin close by or at home. This one is going to be tough, but diverting recyclables from the landfill is fundamental...if it can be recycled, it should be recycled. What can you recycle?
Okay, that is our 3 R's Earth Day pledge. Reduce our garbage output. Reuse our children's books by passing them on to children who will love to read them. Make better recycling choices when we are outside of our house. So, what will you pledge this year? Will you have this discussion with your family or students, and see what changes you can commit to making?
This post is part of the Natural Parenting and Earth Month Blog Hop that is taking place on over 20 blogs. All month long the Natural Parenting and Earth Month Blog Hop has been covering a variety of topics; ways to detox your home, green pregnancy and motherhood ideas, natural food and gardening ideas, green baby ideas, and much more.
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