Whether you live in the sometimes cool north or the hot and steamy south, consider your carbon footprint as you work, play and travel this summer. Here are a few sustainable summer tips for green family fun!
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Sustainable Summer Tips for Family Fun
The kids are home and the temps are hot. You spend half your day running them from place to place and the other cranking the air conditioner up so you don’t sweat to death. Sound familiar?
Think you can’t blend ‘family fun’ with a green summer and small carbon footprint? You actually CAN with a few simple eco tips! Of course, keep in mind that you may have to change some long ingrained habits.
Many human habits, from unsustainable sunscreen to plastic straws, can contribute to the destruction of our environment. Changing your footprint means changing your idea of summer family fun! These summer sustainability tips are a good place to start!
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Keep your house cool without running the air conditioner
Get your kids in the kitchen with you! Plan simple summer meals that don’t require a hot oven and keep those curtains closed to block out the summer sun.
You will save quite a bit of money when you use your air conditioner less often. Consider using your slow cooker and making my easy vegetarian chili recipe or make a cold pasta salad in the morning when the temperature is cooler. No bake desserts and grilled fruit are also a delicious summer meal idea.
Plan eco conscious travel:
Try a sustainable vacation! Whether you choose to go camping in a natural park or site-see in an exotic city, try to be aware of your carbon footprint while traveling. Bring a reusable water bottle and recycle your bottles and cans whenever possible if you buy single served drinks.
Get a checkup on your car to make sure it is running in peak condition and pack a travel cooler for lunch breaks instead of hitting the fast food restaurants.
Here are some fun sustainability tips for you to try:
- Tic-tac-toe Travel Game for sustainable family fun
- Best Trail Food For Your Next Outdoor Adventure
- Green Road Trip Ideas for Frugal Family Fun!
Water sparingly and efficiently:
Let your hose do double duty… water the garden AND the kids! One of the most sustainable summer tips I can offer is to be careful about your water usage. The summer heat has our lawns and landscaping thirsty for water.
Make sure to do your outdoor watering first thing in the morning before the sun comes out to evaporate it all before it can soak into the ground.
Water the roots of your trees and landscaping plants rather than the leaves and invest in a soaker hose for even greater efficiency. You will save money on your water bills while you reduce your carbon footprint.
Support your local farmers:
Head to a farmer’s market! Buying locally sourced fruits and vegetables is much easier during the summer than it is during the winter.
Check out your local farmer’s markets and Community Supported Agriculture programs to find locally sourced foods with a smaller carbon footprint.
Check out my post on starting a food co-op and encourage more people in your community to buy local foods. Your summer menu can make a big impact on your personal sustainability.
Start planting:
Start a fall garden! Growing your own food in your back yard is a great way to go green. If you don’t want to tackle a whole garden, consider just putting a few things in pots on the patio.
Planting flowers and other landscaping that attracts pollinators is a great way to help the environment. If you live in a warmer climate, you may very well be able to have a fall garden if you plant seeds now.
Check out my seed starting tips before you start and you may have fresh lettuce from the back yard this fall!
Involve your kids:
Get crafty and creative. The trickiest part of these sustainable summer tips is to get your kids on board with your green living plan.
Start saving your recyclables for an upcycled art closet that will get their creative juices flowing. Take a nature walk with them instead of watching TV.
There are a lot of ecofriendly activities for kids that will help them understand our need for a lighter carbon footprint. Teach your kids how to have a sustainable summer and they will pass those lessons on to others as they grow up!
Do you have any other eco friendly summer tips? Check out my ecofriendly living tips for a greener home for more ideas.
Diane is a professional blogger and nationally certified pharmacy technician at Good Pill Pharmacy. She earned her BS in Microbiology at the University of New Hampshire and has worked in cancer research, academics, and biotechnology. Concern over the growing incidence of human disease and the birth of her children led her to begin living a more natural life. She quickly realized that the information she was learning along the way could be beneficial to many others and started blogging and freelance writing to share this knowledge with others. Learn more about her HERE.