How to save the planet!

I think the best ideas to save the planet will be long-term - getting the next generation involved so that they just become used to doing things that are environmentally friendly. It worked in Australia for the 'slip, slop, slap' health promotion, and it has been proven time and time again that you need to change the kids' attitudes before you'll make any major difference in society.

So here's ten ideas below for children to get involved with, whether they're your kids, your nieces/nephews or neighbour's children.

1. With your children, build a compost heap and recycle your kitchen and garden waste

2. Show them how worms break the waste down, by building a wormery in a plastic bottle, so they can observe the worms at work

3. Give your children responsibility for splitting the recycling piles between newspaper, plastic bottles, cans etc. Help them decorate and colour the boxes that they are kept in, labelling each one for each type of waste

4. Make it an 'event' to go to the recycling station every week - same time, same place, so it just becomes a habit. Preferably with a small 'treat' afterwards, so they link it with positive things

5. Encourage a love of nature wherever possible - collect natural materials and make a collage, or make home-made environmentally friendly cards, make bird feeders and nesting boxes

6. Make your own recycled wrapping paper and always try to buy recycled paper and cards

7. Teach your children about organic growing - start with growing carrot tops in water, and cress/grass in eggshells, then progress to giving them a patch of land or a container tub to grow their own flowers or vegetables without using chemicals

8. Water is a lifeline for sanitation, hygiene and health. Children should learn how vital it is to those in developing countries and how lucky we are in UK, yet we waste so much. Did you know that the average person in the UK uses 135 litres of water every day, but the average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water every day for their drinking, washing and cooking. This is the same amount used in the average flush of a UK toilet. On current trends over the next 20 years humans will use 40% more water than they do now (source www.WaterAid.org). See if they can guess how much water is in a bath, or get them to carry water from one container to another, on their heads, just like they have to do in many parts of Africa and Asia.
9. Conserving energy to minimise carbon dioxide emissions. According to the Energy Saving Trust (www.est.org.uk), each household in the UK creates around six tonnes of carbon dioxide a year which is enough to fill six hot air balloons (10 metres in diameter). So involve the children in doing some small but effective things - If everyone put an insulation jacket on their hot water tank, we'd cut carbon dioxide emissions by 600,000 tonnes - enough to fill around 120,000 hot air balloons. If everyone in the UK installed one energy saving light bulb, we'd save enough carbon dioxide to fill the Albert Hall nearly 2,000 times.

10. Plant a tree to encourage oxygenation, home for our wildlife and to build a lovely environment around us. The Tree Council hold special days if you want to join an organised event, or if you want to set up a family tree scheme by helping to build a new forest. www.treecouncil.org.uk

Kirsty