What's the "Big Idea": Kids

"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

This famous American Indian quote is as significant today as it was hundreds of years ago. We must all take a stand and protect the environment for our children and the generations to come.

We can begin this process in the way that we care for our infants. Rather than use disposable diapers, try using cloth ones. Home-washing cloth diapers only has 53% the ecological footprint that disposables do. Using a diaper laundry service has only 37%. You can use organic cloth, bamboo cloth and even plant-based biodegradable diapers.

There are eco-friendly toys that we can buy for our children. Purchase long lasting educational toys to nurture their curiosity. An example of an educational game is Bioviva, a board game about world cultures and biodiversity. It comes in a recycled cardboard box that is printed with non-toxic inks. ImagiPLAY creates toys that are made from renewable, non-splintering rubberwood.  

Timber with non-toxic finishes is a good material to use. You can also purchase soft toys made by organic fabrics and renewable soy fiber. It is also important to buy toys that are child labor-free. This way we are not only looking out for our children, but those around the globe as well.

It is also important to encourage your children to play outside! Kids thrive on fresh air and exercise.

How do you encourage your children to think green? How are you caring for the environment to ensure it is safe for your children?

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Do you have a "Big Idea" for the environment? Join The Green to learn more about Robert Redford's new television series about sustainable living. To join, click here.

This week's episode of "Big Ideas for a Small Planet"“Kids” looks at how a new generation is learning about ecology. Join Gather and Barbera Aimes for a live chaton this topic, Tuesday, June 12^th @ 2PM.

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If we’re to create a brighter future for the planet, we need to instill environmental awareness in our children at home, in schools, and in hands-on eco programs. Tune into the Sundance Channel on Tuesday, June 12 to learn more:

9:00pm e/p

“Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Kids” Eleven-year old activist Evan Green hosts a kick-off party to recruit new members for his Red Dragon Conservation Team, a group of kids and adults dedicated to saving the rainforest and fostering biodiversity; a group of students from the educational initiative “Plastics are Forever” collects used containers from a Los Angeles waterway  and creates rafts from the trash to float down the creek; and toy-maker Barbera Aimes, founder of ImagiPLAY, creates non-toxic toys made from renewable rubberwood and recycled cardboard.

9:30pm e/p

The Refugees of the Blue Planet  (U.S. Television Premiere) – Directors Héléne Choquette and Jean-Phillipe Duval present an eye-opening look at the expanding ranks of environmental refugees, people who can no longer safely inhabit their homes because of natural disasters and/or industrial exploitation.  The film puts human faces to a broad-based trend, introducing families in both the Third World and the First: from the Maldives, an island republic that is disappearing into the ocean; to Brazil, where vast eucalyptus-tree paper plantations have altered native ecology; to Alberta, Canada, where farmers face grave health risks and death from nearby toxic gas wells.