9 Tips for Kids & Parents to Fight Climate Change Together

With President Biden now in office, we’re asking for bold action for him to act quickly on climate and public lands. We also wanted to find out what the current generation’s concerns and actions are regarding climate change. For that, we tasked junior blogger, Ruby Cline, age 11, to give us her thoughts on how we can fight climate change together. Here’s what she had to say:

I love our earth, and I am worried because our home is in danger. I was invited by the Mountain Mamas to share my tips for kids and parents to fight climate change together.

The climate is warming quickly. 

At first it was not thought about much, people just thought if they were happy and healthy the earth would be too, but they were wrong. (Which is sad because we should have slowed our carbon use decades ago.) 

Now it is important to focus on this subject so that we can change the destructive direction caused almost entirely by humans. 

I did a lot of research on climate change for the month of October, and I realized how much it has impacted the environment. 

The rising sea levels, rising temperatures, increasing droughts across the world, melting ice, more and stronger fires — all of those things are the effects of our increased fossil fuel use from driving cars, riding on airplanes and consuming lots of single use plastic. 

All of those things are so incredibly bad for our environment. Our planet is so overwhelmed. 

Throughout the entire project I was wondering what can I/other people do to help? 

So the subject I really focused on was how people can help. As a person, I naturally use things and create garbage. But, how can I be better?

There are many ways you can help, and the great news is everyone on the planet can easily participate. Here are my top nine tips you and your family can do to fight climate change together:

1. Drive less. The gas from your car floats into the atmosphere and blocks the sun’s heat from escaping earth. This warms our planet.

2. Plant a garden. All plants soak up co2, and turn it back into oxygen, then the plants release it back into the atmosphere.
   

3. Use less (way less) plastic. In order to make plastic it uses fossil fuels, even if you forget your reusable bags you can just load groceries into your cart and then into your car without bags.

4. Use solar panels. It uses fossil fuels to make electricity, so when you leave your house turn off all the lights.

5. Buy long-lasting clothes. It takes 700 gallons of water to make ONE shirt and it takes 80 years for clothes to break down in the landfill. A lot of our clothes contain fabric made from petroleum (rayon, lycra, polyester, spandex) and when we wash our clothes little microplastic gets into the water and ends up in oceans, rivers and lakes.  

6. Buy local. If you buy something from Florida, in order for it to get to your local store in Montana, it has to use a lot of energy.

7. Be a vegetarian. All meats, but mostly cows, release a lot of greenhouse gases when they fart and burp. Also a giant percent of the planet’s total farmland is used for animals for meat production. It takes 2.5 times more land to feed someone on a meat-based diet than it does to feed a vegetarian since the crops are consumed directly instead of being used to feed animals. 
   
   If you don’t want to be a vegetarian, you can choose to eat less red meat or buy your meat from a local farm.

8. Use your clothes dryer less. Our dryers let out greenhouse gases when they dry clothes. So it’s best to hang your clothes on a clothesline. You can even do this in the winter!

9. And last but not least, don’t let your car idle. It’s so hard on the environment. If it’s been more than 10 seconds it is better for the planet to turn off your car.

The things my family does to help the environment are: 

1. We never get bags at the store (paper or plastic).

2. We never let our car idle for more than 10 seconds. 

3. I am a vegetarian, and the rest of my family eats very little meat and the meat we buy supports local farms.

4. We buy from family farms and businesses whenever we can.

5. We bike or walk most places.

6. We have a garden.
   

7. We buy second hand.

8. We live in a small house.

9. We buy things that we can use many times.

10. We don’t have air conditioning.

11. We value our public lands. I love our mountains, trails, camp sites, and rivers and it’s good to protect these public lands because we need trees, plants, water and open space for a healthy environment, for both animals and people.

We are not perfect because nobody is, the most important part is that we are trying our best.

I always worry. I always worry about no snow in the winter, animal extinction, rising sea levels, droughts, and summers being really hot. 

The world is dying, for once we need to hear mother earth’s screams. 

You are the one who can help the earth thrive, for your grandchildren, for your great grandchildren. 

The world is huge and I need your help to save our home, everyone’s home. We all need your help. You CAN make a difference. I hope you’ll join me in at least trying.

Ruby Cline is 11 years old and lives in Missoula, Montana. Her favorite activities include writing, reading, photography, adventuring outside and snuggling the best animal in the world – dogs. She likes to give, rollerblade, bake, camp and learn about the magical powers of crystals and essential oils.

“I am REALLY excited because this is my first blog, and I am so happy to be writing it for Mountain Mamas.” – Ruby