From Guest Blogger Lonnie Jimenez: The Importance of Teaching Children to Go Green
Why is it so important to teach our kids to go green? Well, first we have to determine what going green means. To that end, it means adopting a more eco-friendly and environmentally conscious way of living. It also means that we should be adopting more renewable products and resources, in order to sustain our energy and the various resources that come with it. So why should we go green? Read on to find out – and to find out why it’s even more important for our kids to follow in our footsteps.
Resources
For years and years now, our energy stock has been cut in half by dangerous toxins that have spilled into our earth and water sources. Toxins live in our water supply day after day and they contaminate not just our fresh drinking water, but aquatic life as well. Look at all the ocean life that has lived under water for years and years, and now their whole life is basically in jeopardy. Fresh seafood was once a delicacy and wonderful thing to eat, but now because of the mercury levels (that are rising everyday), it’s becoming almost disgusting, and the very supply of food we still love to eat is severely threatened. Furthermore, never forget that our oil supply is NOT an unlimited resource. No matter how much we drill, there will never be an infinite amount of oil to sustain our needs. Eventually, we will run out – if green solutions are implemented globally by that impending crisis, the world will be a scary place.
Erosion
Another dangerous and toxic development of late has been erosion of the earth’s soil. Soil used to be enriched with vitamins and nutrients in order to grow healthy plant and animal life, but now all of this is in jeopoardy. And it doesn’t just happen within hated housing developments – it’s also amidst agricultural areas, since so many farmers aren’t concerned with sustaining the cultivility of the earth. The earth will keep growing in the decades to come, and the global population will likely approach 10 million by 2020. Every one of those people will need food – and as long as we keep ruining land for our children, we aren’t doing anything for the problem.
Poison
When the topic of pesticides comes up, most assume that no harm is done to humans, but the pesticides that are used to kill insects that plague our fruits and vegetables have a detrimental effect on our health, and that of our children. These pesticides can damage the development of little ones, and any offspring that they or you have after ingesting them, and the same goes for those who eat animals that have ingested pesticides. This is why it’s so important to feed your children organic, fresh and local food that hasn’t been infused with any of the harmful chemicals that we so often ignore when we are eating – preservatives, pesticides, etc. We have no way of knowing the long-term effects of generation and generation consuming these toxins.
Pollution
It’s also wise for any parent to consider air pollution and the damage that is causes. So many of our illnesses, like asthma, have a direct correlation to air pollution. Air pollution is just one of the causes of horrid things like acid rain and global warming – which have detrimental consequences on human health in countless ways. Encourage your children to bike to school, take public transport or walk whenever possible. Especially if you live in an urban area, this will help to cut down on the toxic emissions suffocating American cities. Cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago are particularly bad – and as long as the US continues to ignore the problem, we will continue to lag behind the rest of the world in taking care of our lungs (for instance, many cities such as Mexico City and Athens have institutes restrictions on how many cars are allowed in busy areas in certain days of the week, leading to much better air for everyone). Public transit and carpooling will also save your family money!
Land
Not only are so many of us subject to the ills of skin cancer, asthma and allergies, many around the world are losing the very land they live in. One problem so often overlooked by the majority of people is the reality of the changing landscape. The outlines of continents as we know it are changing, but state borders are not. That means that people are being crowded into smaller and smalelr areas over time. For instance, water levels are rising annually along the coast of Bangladesh, one of the most populous, dense and small countries in the world. The hundreds of millions of citizens in this country are in need of a disappearing resource – land. This may not be a pressing problem now, but it will be for our children.
These are just a few of the ways that the earth is being stressed, stretched and ruined, and going green is the only way to help heal it. We need to do something for the future generation, so that children will have a planet to be proud of. We need to teach our kids to care, because quite simply, it starts with them.
Lonnie Jimenez writes about green solutions and environmental activism. His recent work is about earning an online masters in healthcare administration, specializing in sustainability.
