O2 - Issue 2 - (Page 62)

[FUTURE FOCUS] KIDS GO GREEN IN NYC By Kathryn Daly, an eighth grader at St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s School S HE ENJOYS THE OUTDOORS, TRAVELING, THEATER, AND BOOKS. And like so many members of her generation, Kathryn Daly cares about the planet: She recently traveled with the People to People Ambassador program to the South Pacific where she cleaned beaches in Fiji, and met native people like the Maori. Here she offers a kid’s-eye view of sustainability. –0– If you took a kid from the ’50s and showed her New York today, she would be stunned. Today we have hybrids, solar panels, and people working hard to clean our air and water. For some kids, this is stuff our parents do, but we need to step up to the plate. Our world is being affected; this isn’t homework or something we should complain about. This is saving our planet; this is something all of us can do. With hydrogen- and solar-powered toy cars (hey, these things are cool), we can all do the right thing, the good thing, for our planet. Here is what you can do… 10 Ways to Make Our Planet More Green Everyday • Unplug your appliances, like iPod chargers and TVs, when not in use. • Use your own bag at stores instead of wasting paper or plastic. • Use reusable water bottles. I use my blue Naglene after practice. • Talk to your art teacher and see if you can bring in recyclables to use for projects. • Turn off faucets while brushing your teeth. • Give your old clothes to someone to reuse. • Use a lunch box instead of a paper bag. • Use the backside of old papers for scrap. • Go to the park instead of watching TV or playing on the computer. • Tell your Dad to drive more slowly in the family car. Fun Places Where Kids Can Learn About the Environment There are many truly interesting places to “unearth” environmental information in the city. The Science Barge on the Hudson River doesn’t only look wickedly cool with its greenhouses and solar panels, but it does some awesome things. The barge actually navigates on the Hudson along Manhattan. It grows totally organic vegetables with nothing but water and sunshine. Also, it is powered by the sun, wind, and biofuels, making it one of the most Earth-friendly water vessels ever made. www.nysunworks.org. The American Museum of Natural History’s “Water: H2O = Life” exhibit is all about water, funny enough. This tells you all you need to know about water. You can find out everything scientists know and don’t know. Ever thought of seeing pictures of fog, seeing the Earth from outer space, or observing live fish and frogs? You can start on November 3rd at the AMNH. www.amnh.org. The New York Botanical Garden’s Children’s Adventure Garden has huge plant sculptures and mazes to play in. There are tons of different projects about plants and how they fit into our lives, which you can do by yourself, with a friend, or in a group with Garden staff. www.nybg.org. Indoors, log on to Battery Park City Authority’s interactive website where you can be a green urban planner and uncover real greenbuilding facts at www.batteryparkcity.org/kids. Another great website is www.greenapplemap.org. Here you can click around New York City and beyond to find all things green. Remember, green is fun. It’s not extra homework. It can be part of your daily life. There are scads of green information to find and green things to do in NYC. For some more fun ideas check out 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth by LLC Andrews. 62 [ O2GREENMAGAZINE.COM ] http://www.nysunworks.org http://www.amnh.org http://www.nybg.org http://www.batteryparkcity.org/kids http://www.greenapplemap.org http://O2GREENMAGAZINE.COM

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O2 - Issue 2 Contents Letter Freshpicks Itinerary The Hunt Flight O2 Outer Beauty Fuel 4 Thought Health Tech One to Watch Great Outdoors Features Future Focus Musings

O2 - Issue 2

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