1. Get Moving
No need for that car quite yet. As it turns out biking, taking the bus, skateboarding, rollerblading, walking and running produce no harmful Greenhouse Gases (GHG’s). If you do go somewhere in car, try to carpool with other kids going the same way. Lucky for you, these are all things that kids just do naturally! Now try to get your parents in the same habit as you.

The Youth Bicycle Education Network (YBEN) links, supports, and strengthens organizations that use the bicycle as a vehicle for youth development and community building.

Built strong and with sustainable materials, COMET cares as much about the materials used in their skateboards as they do the people riding them. These boards are constructed with sustainable woods, bio-based epoxies, and finished using non-toxic, water-based paints with low VOC coatings. For COMET it's all about meeting the demands of an unrelenting environment and the skater who is a part of it.

When you join the COMET RIDERS ORG you will receive an exclusive COMET RIDERS ORG t-shirt after your first board purchase (not available anywhere else), essential pack, free shipping on all orders in the U.S., entry into monthly raffle, and the COMET Monthly newsletter which features upcoming events and special releases.

Find Public Transportation in Your Community

Dump the Pump

2. Be an Energy Star!
Conserve energy through your choice of lightbulbs and electronics. Help your parents choose Energy Star, too!

Take the Energy Star Change a Light pledge.

Learn about all the different types of energy that run your house and school.

3. Reduce
Reduce your use of resources and make a difference every day. Here’s some simple tips:

1. Turn off lights, TV’s, and stereos when you leave the room.

2. Unplug electronics that are not in use to avoid “phantom power” use or plug them into a power strip that you can switch off.

3. Take extra plastic bags or a reusable tote with you when you go shopping or to the grocery store. When you check out, just say, “No bag please, I have my own.”

4. Try a reusable stainless steel water bottle and save all those plastic water bottles from the landfill.

5. Find out how much energy you use on Earthday Network’s Ecological Footprint Quiz.

6. Turn off the water when you brush your teeth and when you’re scrubbing dishes in the sink.

7. Take shorter showers. Can you believe 6-8 gallons of water is used per minute for your shower?

8. Keep playing with the garden hose to a minimum-it can use up to thousand gallons per hour!

9. Go to a community pool rather than having a personal one in your backyard; you can save tons of water and make way more friends that way!

10. Calculate your daily water usage.

4. Reuse
The 3R’s are a great way to get things you want and need very inexpensively or sometimes even for free while reducing the environmental impact that goes along with buying things new. Vintage, antique, thrift…whatever you want to call it, giving stuff a second chance to be used is cool!

Craigslist is a great place to buy lightly used electronics, bikes, and all kinds of other things. Make sure to check out the “free” page in the “for sale” section of Craigslist for toys, music, craft materials, and sports equipment. You just might find something you’re looking for, and you’ll definitely find plenty of free surprises!

The Freecycle concept has spread to over 75 countries, where there are thousands of local groups representing millions of of members -- people helping people and "changing the world one gift at a time." As a result, they are currently keeping over 300 tons a day out of landfills! This amounts to four times the height of Mt. Everest in the past year alone, when stacked in garbage trucks! People from all walks of life have joined together to turn trash into treasure.

5. Recycle
Recycling is a method of taking used products like metal, glass, plastic, and paper and sending them to a recycling plant to be reprocessed into “new” materials. See how much of your “waste” each day can really be recycled into new stuff.

Check out the story of Recycle City…

Just a few years ago, this place was called Dumptown. For years, the folks living here hadn't thought much about where waste went when they threw it out. And, eventually, that became a very BIG problem...

The garbage heap grew and began to smell. Sometimes it caught fire, sending toxic smoke into the air and making it hard for everyone to breathe. They knew they had to fix it. Finally, they closed the old city dump and built a new solid waste landfill outside of town. With the town's new image, it needed a new name, and Recycle City was born. Travel around Recycle City and find out what folks here are doing to reduce waste and make the environment better.

At Earth 911, you'll find information, fun games and activities, great environmental links, and more, just for your grade level.

6. Eat Less Meat
Over the course of one year, an individual’s meat habit can easily add up to a half a ton of CO2 and 162,000 gallons of water. Reducing your meat intake is also better for your health, since pesticides accumulate in meat at 9 times greater levels than in vegetables, fruits and grain.

Take the red pill and watch the critically-acclaimed, award-winning first episode of The Meatrix Trilogy.

Maybe you recycle, pick up litter, or conserve energy in your home. But did you know that if you want to help the Earth, the best thing you can do is to stop eating meat? On 1 acre of land, you can grow 20,000 pounds of potatoes, or you can grow 165 pounds of beef in the same space. About 87 percent of the farmland in the U.S. is used to raise animals for food. Producing one fast-food hamburger uses enough fuel to drive a small car 20 miles and enough energy for 17 showers. Learn more about the effects of eating meat at PETAKiDS.com.

7. Buy Mom and Pop
Of course you can’t actually buy your Mom and Pop, but you can buy locally-made goods from independent businesses, a.k.a. “the little guys.” Buy food from farmer’s markets. Choose more clothes and toys made in your own town or Made in the USA. Buy gifts at local craft fairs. Supporting independent local business rather than big chains, keeps money flowing in your community, adds flavor to local culture and cuts the eco footprint from shipping goods all over the globe.

Watch Your Foodometer! Interested in eating less oil? In this VideoNation/Hidden Driver report, animator Molly Schwartz keeps track of how many miles your food travels from field to fork.

Etsy is an online resource to buy and sell handmade goods from cities all around the US….including yours!

8. Plant Trees
Planting trees is a very direct way to reduce the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, filter toxins in the soil and provide beauty and shade to your neighborhood.

As our name might suggest, trees are the primary focus of Tree Musketeers environmental programs. Our work is with city trees, and that is called urban forestry. We mobilize community volunteers tall and small for youth led events to plant and care for trees in a variety of projects.

The Tree City USA® program, sponsored by The National Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters, provides direction, technical assistance, public attention, and national recognition for urban and community forestry programs in thousands of towns and cities that more than 93 million Americans call home. Find out if your town is a Tree City USA.

9. Make a Statement
Write letters to businesses or state officials that you think need to make a change. Get all your friends to sign it! Ask your favorite video game maker to follow Energy Star guidelines for making their game stations. Write your mayor and ask for bike paths to be built in your town. Tell your regular hamburger joint to stop clearing ancient rainforest for cattle grazing land. What environmentally friendly changes would you like to see in the world?

Rain Forest Heroes

Global Response Kids

10. Act Up
Take an active role in changing your community for the better. Many adults take children seriously when it comes to our global future, especially in numbers. You can lead our world to a smarter, healthier way of living. Start today!

Are you looking for fun things you can do with your friends and family? We can help you plan and play an active role in meaningful projects that make the world a better place for people, animals and the environment, so you'll not only have fun, you'll make a difference too. There's no limit to the type or size of worthy community service projects or activities you can do. And you don't need to be an adult to make a real difference. That's because at Roots & Shoots, the power of youth is what gets the job done. When you join or start a Roots & Shoots group, you’ll make new friends with kids and teens in your community, across the country and around the world, who want to network with others, just like you.

Have an idea or two about how to help your community? Looking for resources and advice on how to get started? Want to see what other young people are doing in their communities? Hundreds of organizations around the world are eager to help you get more involved in your community, both locally and globally. Idealist.org showcases a collection of organizations that will provide you with a solid introduction to the world of youth leadership and community involvement.