1. Reuse old items

This idea is especially helpful when your kids like to do various art projects and crafts at home! Instead of buying popsickle sticks, colored paper, egg cartons etc., keep old things in a box. Have your kids decorated a “Green Project Box” remind them that anything can be put in it and used again! Get them to think before they throw items away. Could this cardboard toilet paper roll be used in a fun craft? Can an old birthday card be cut into fun shapes and used to add color to a project? See how creative you and your kids can be!

2. Plant a vegetable garden

While it can be a lot of work, planting a garden can be a great way to teach your kids about the harmful effects of pesticides. Not only will they be able to eat the fruits (or vegetables) of their labor, but they will be able to see the noticeable difference between your vegetables and the ones at the grocery store which are usually smaller and less healthy-looking, proving that organic is better.

3. Take a trip to a landfill

Landfill are smelly, stinky, and an absolutely disgusting place, but there is no doubt that taking your children on a landfill road trip will leave a lasting impression on their little minds. While it’s sure to be a hilarious trip, with your kids laughing about how bad it smells and dying to get out of there, try to get them to think about some staggering statistics on the way home. For example, diapers take over 500 years to be completely broken down. That means your kids’ diapers are still in one of those landfills, not to mention every diaper ever made! Visit a landfill site to stress the importance of recycling and reducing your waste as a family.

Try out these few ways to teach your kids about the important of caring for our environment. Get creative! Think of interesting and exciting ways to instill green-living in your children. They ultimately will decide what happens to our environment when we pass the torch. Let’s teach them to be conscious of their eco-footprint!

About the author: Julia is a writer passionate about health, fitness & being green. When she’s not running her dog she can sometimes be found writing about Smartlipo, cooking and a myriad of other topics.

How are we going to be able to cope with the need for transportation with such a high energy cost? The answer will be the electric cars of tomorrow. The average cost to run a conventional gas car is about .10 a mile. In contrast a new technology equipped electric car will cost about .03 a mile. What this means to your pocketbook is a savings of over 70%. With savings like that don’t let anyone try and convince you that electric car is dead. Believe me nobody killed the electric car.

If you really want to go green and save loads of money in the process you should be looking at electric bicycles. They only cost about .01 a mile. That is really energy efficient. Can you imagine getting the equivalent to over 900 miles to the gallon?   The electric cars that are on the road today will offer more protection from the elements than a bike…but if you are hardy the bike should serve you well.

If you drive a new electric car it will not only be a positive for the environment but will also save you lots of money in the long run. Just about all electric cars will emit on average 98% less harmful pollution that conventional gasoline powered automobiles. This is true even after you factor in the energy from the power-plants that build the cars and the electric car parts. You will be doing your part in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

If everybody went "electric" maybe global warming would become part of history. The one expense that makes people think twice about electric vehicles is the cost of electric car batteries. While there is no way around the added cost of the electric car battery you can be certain that as more and more batteries are sold the prices will decrease rapidly.

Even the "Smart Car" is going electric. Which will make the tiniest car on the road even more economically worthwhile.

Always remember that the slower you drive the better your gas mileage will be.  This not only holds true for gas powered cars but also for the new electrics.  Think about a portable radio that is powered by batteries.  If you keep the volume at a low level the batteries will last a long time.  If you pump up the jams the batteries wear down a lot sooner.  The same is true for the electric cars of tomorrow and their batteries.