Ready to Teach Your Kids How to Change the World?
November 4, 2010 1 Comment
How many times have you gotten to the checkout counter at the grocery store and realized you forgot the canvas bags you have for carrying groceries?
What if your kids were so well-trained, they could help you remember?
ConservingNow.com is a website that is helping start this paradigm shift.
Launched in August 2009 by Meghan Crowell and her mother Gayle Crowell, the main purpose of ConservingNow is to help educate our youth about reducing plastic bag use for a cleaner planet.
They got the idea when they were having lunch in a grocery store and kept hearing patrons say “Oh, I forgot my bags!” at the checkout line.
Meghan’s idea is to train our kids so well that they don’t even have to think to bring their canvas bags to the stores because there’s no other way to do it. She equates it to getting ready for school in the morning – got backpack, lunch, shoes…When we get ready to go to the store, we make sure we have our canvas bags.
Her thought is that if we start kids early in life remembering their canvas bags, they will be trained to remember and begin the cycle of waste reduction as well as activism against using plastic bags.
The main mission of ConservingNow is to educate so they have put together extensive materials to help educate families and teachers.
Step one is for a family to take the household survey which helps you estimate how many plastic bags your family uses. Then you can encourage your classroom or schools to implement the program outlined in the education kits.
The education kits include (from the website):
- 30 Bring Your Own Bag Static Window Cling for parent’s car window
- Grade appropriate teacher curriculum kit including a study unit on “Making a Difference”
- Grade appropriate classroom book from the following list of eco-books:
- “101 Ways You Can Help Save the Planet Before You Are 12″
- “Help Your Parents Save the Plan” – 50 Simple Ways to Go Green Now”
- “The Greening Book – Being a Friend to Planet Earth”
- “Easy to Be Green – Simple Activities You Can Do to Save the Earth”
- “10 Things I Can Do to Help My World”
- “S is for Save the Planet – A How to be Green Alphabet”
- 30 Cotton Reusable Bags for students to decorate in class and take home
- Templates to help students become more mindful of conservation:
- Special gift for the teacher!! One oversized cotton tote big enough for all of your teaching supplies and more
Kits are available for $60.00 each – a great teacher’s gift or donation either from your family or from your company. They offer age-appropriate curriculums – Grades K-3, 4-6, 7-12 as well as a school project kit.
One hundred percent of the profits from the education kits go back to funding additional kits for schools that cannot pay for their own.
They also give away “Make a Difference – Bring Your Own Bag” window clings for your car to help remind you (from the inside of the car) to bring your canvas bags to the store and helps encourage passersby to use canvas bags to reduce plastic bag use. It’s a great reminder for you and an effective way to spread the word.
GREAT NEWS: Now through December 31, 2010 they are having a 20% off sale in their shop. Check the website for details.
The ConservingNow Facebook page is highly informative with a very active fan base of over 10,000. For each post, there are multiple comments with great discussion. Definitely consider “liking” them for additional information and interesting topics.
In some places, such as San Francisco, there is no “Paper or Plastic?” question anymore because plastic bags have been outlawed. As the word spreads and people put pressure on their local markets or grocery stores, plastic bags may go the way of the VHS tape, rarely seen and rarely used. Train your family now so you’ll be ready to switch to canvas when plastic bags disappear from your favorite store.
Education, Food and Drink
One Comments to “Ready to Teach Your Kids How to Change the World?”