At Home

1. Ask your Mom and/or Dad to help you recycle everything you can: newspapers, cans, glass bottles and jars, aluminum foil, motor oil, scrap metal, etc.
2. Don’t use things you plug in when you can do the same thing by hand, such as opening cans.  
3. Encourage your parents to use cold water in the washer when they do laundry.  
4. When you empty the trash re-use brown paper bags to line the trash cans instead of plastic bags.  
5. Store food in plastic containers, instead of plastic wrap or aluminum foil.  
6. Ask your parents to save wire coat hangers and return them to the dry cleaners.  
7. If you have things that you don’t use (old clothing or toys) take the re-usable items to a charitable organization or thrift shop like the Salvation Army.  
8. Always turn off the water if you don’t need it like when you’re brushing your teeth.  
9. Instead of asking Mom or Dad to turn up the heat, wrap up in a blanket or change into your favorite sweater.  
10. When you leave a room, turn off the lights, television, or stereo.  
11. Flush the toilet less often.  (If you cut flushing in half, you’ll save up to 16.5 gallons a day.)
12. Before you leave to go on a trip make sure your parents turn down the head and d turn off the water heater.  
13. When you take the Christmas tree down, recycle it. 

In the Yard

1. Start a pile of dead leaves, sticks, and whatever else is laying around the yard.
2. Make the yard fun for the birds, put up birdfeeders, birdhouses, and birdbaths.  
3. Encourage Mom and Dad to play in the dirt with you and pull weeds instead of using weed killers.
4. When you help with the lawn, tell Mom and Dad to use organic fertilizers (They are still the best.)
5. Compost your leaves and yard debris, or take them to a yard debris recycler.  (Burning them creates air pollution, and putting them out with the trash wastes landfill space.)
6. After you’ve helped plant flowers or plants, take the unused plastic and rubber pots back to the nursery.  
7. Ask Mom or Dad to plant short, dense shrubs close to your home’s foundation to help insulate your home against cold.  
8. Use mulch to conserve water in your garden.
    

In the Car

1. Remind Mom and Dad to go in for a car tune up every 3,000 miles.  
2. Whether it’s to school, practice, or the mall, carpool with your friends when you can.
3. If you can use the bus to get somewhere do that.  
4. On weekends, instead of riding in the car get permission from your parents to ride your bike or walk to where your going instead.  
5. Talk to your parents about buying a car that uses less fuel (such as a hybrid or electric) when the family is ready for a new car.  
6. Have your parents recycle their engine oil.  
7. Before you go anywhere in the car ask your parents if the tires are aired up.  
8. When your parents take their car in for a check-up talk to them about getting their wheels properly aligned to save the tires.  (It’s safer too.)
9. Don’t throw trash on the ground.  Save the trash and wait until you get home or to a stopping place and throw the trash away there.  

At School

1. When at school ask the teacher if you can start a recycling bin to recycle the paper and cardboard you use.
2. Use scrap paper instead of a clean sheet of paper whenever you can.  
3. When doing an assignment try and use both sides of the paper.  
4. Check with your teacher to see if you can use different sizes of paper to fit the assignment or drawing.  
5. If possible, re-use envelopes, folders, etc. in the classroom. If you can have a drink at school, bring your own so you don’t have to use not recyclable cups.      Take your own cup or mug with you to school and take it home in the afternoon to wash.  

At the Store

1. Encourage your Mom or Dad to not buy food or other products that come in plastic or styrofoam containers.  Those containers cannot be recycled and are worse for the environment.  
2. Encourage your family to not buy “disposable” products.  They really aren’t disposable and are big waste of the Earth’s resources.
3. If Mom and Dad insist on buying “disposables” encourage them to buy paper products instead of plastic.  They break down better in the environment and don’t deplete the ozone layer as much.  
4. Talk to your parents about buying the products that use energy the best.  If products waste too much energy it is not good for the environment.   
5. Ask grownups a lot of questions!!  Encourage them to not buy things like styrofoam that are bad for the environment.  You should also let them know to not buy anything that is made by destroying habitats like rainforests.  
6. If there are local things made by people in your state encourage your parents to buy those whenever they can.  
7. If the product your parents want to buy are made by hurting endangered animals try to let them know they shouldn’t buy the product.  

Personal Efforts

1. If your area has a group that you can join to help the environment, encourage your parents to sign you up.  
2. Volunteer your time after school and on weekends to projects in your area that help save the environment.   
3. Ask your parents if you can give some of your allowance money to the projects you help out with.  
4. Eat more vegetables!!  Encourage your parents to switch to healthier meats and to serve vegetables with dinner.  If we eat more vegetables we are helping cut down on the raising of animals for food.  This takes up a lot of natural resources and can cause harm to the environment.  
5. Lead by example.  Encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to save resources too and show them how you are doing it.  
6. Talk to your teacher about writing a letter to your state legislators and give them your ideas on saving the environment.  
7. Talk to your friends about respecting the environment and nature.  Instead playing video games after school take a walk around the neighborhood.  Instead of spending all day inside on the weekend ask your parents if you can go camping or take a hike at a local park.  Help out around the community by planting trees or building birdhouses.  Lead by example.  If you are doing things to help save the environment other people will catch on. 

THAT'S 50 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT!!