The Future’s in Their Hands – Teaching Your Children to Go Green

I want to thank Direct Energy for sponsoring this post, and giving me the chance to share how I’m teaching my daughter about how to live for a greener future!

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If someone was to ask me if I live a ‘green’ lifestyle, I would probably answer no because it’s not something that I consciously go about doing.  But when I was reflecting on what kind of efforts we as parents have modeled to preserve our environment, I was actually amazed at how much we actually do that is second nature to us every day that we’ve hopefully passed on to our daughter.

New Leaf Energy believes that we should all make a positive impact to the environment and that you don’t have to completely change your life in order to do so…. Phew; because when we bought our home in Texas we knew that since it was 26 years old it wouldn’t be that energy efficient, but we’ve started to make some small changes to make it so.  New Leaf Energy is dedicated to bringing 100% renewable energy to Texans, along with a wealth of helpful and practical green living tips.  Here are a few of the things we have done and continue to do:

We’ve replaced all the light bulbs in the house with LED light bulbs which has made a HUGE difference in our energy savings.  We also turn out the lights in rooms that are not in use and we notice our daughter does the same and we don’t even have to nag her to do it!

Recycling is something that we’ve seamlessly incorporated in our daily routines.  We have a small bin in our laundry area that paper, plastics, metals and glass go into.  Once it’s full we have a larger recycling center in our garage where we separate the paper from the rest of the items.  Once a week it gets taken to the curb for pick up.  It’s nice to see our recycling can is more full than our garbage can each week… we’re doing something right there!

We try to not toss out food.  Once a week we clean the fridge out and have leftovers.  We know that much of the food we eat has already taken its toll on the environment.  We don’t want to throw it out and cause even more.  Besides that gives me a day off from cooking and since we reheat them in the microwave it’s one less day that we’re using electricity to power up the stove top and ovens.

Our children ARE tomorrow’s future.  I know in our home we as parents still have a ways to go in being more conscious on how we’re living and treating the Earth, but step by step we’re trying to set an example of responsible living so my daughter’s children and grandchildren will still have an Earth with clean water, green grass and safe air to breathe.

In that vein, New Leaf Energy and Pablo B. Green their loyal tree frog mascot, will be planting 1 new tree for every new Facebook Fan they receive through 12/23/13.

Wowzers just think of that as you visit the New Leaf Energy Facebook page and become a fan for a greener future.  Encourage your friends and family to be a part of #PlantingWithPablo too.

How do you teach your children about green living?