Eco kiddos by Eco- school - Illustrated by Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika - Ourboox.com
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Eco kiddos

by

Artwork: Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika

This book is used to promote our newly lauched school project "Eco Kiddos" Great changes begin with small stepts
  • Joined Apr 2019
  • Published Books 1
Eco kiddos by Eco- school - Illustrated by Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika - Ourboox.com

Help Protect Sea Turtles!

Six of seven species of sea turtles around the world are endangered or threatened but there are many ways that anyone can help! Here are a few ways you can support conservation of wild sea turtles around the world:Don’t buy souvenirs or other items made from critically endangered hawksbill shell. See our How To Identify & Avoid Hawksbill Turtleshell guide to learn how to recognize turtleshell and other similar looking materials. When traveling, ask vendors what souvenirs are made of and when in doubt, don’t purchase items in question.Reduce your carbon footprint! Climate change affects the health of coral reefs which are vital to the hawksbills survival. A warming planet also skews sex ratios in baby turtles, changes the abundance and distribution of prey, increases erosion of nesting beaches, and more. Learn some simple ways to reduce your carbon footprint here.Choose responsibly caught seafood. Sea turtles are vulnerable to commercial fishing methods like trawling, longlines, and drift gillnets, becoming unwanted catch (also known as “bycatch”) that is discarded like trash. To help make turtle friendly seafood choices check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch which is also available as a handy app for your phone!Just say NO to plastics! Sea turtles and other ocean life mistake plastic as food and ingest it. An estimated that more than 100 million marine animals die each year as a result of eating or getting entangled in plastic. Avoid using disposable plastic bags, bottles, and “skip the straw.” Check out some easy ways to reduce your use of plastics here.Leave No Trace. This means practicing good housekeeping when visiting a beach where turtles nest. Remove your trash (and trash left by others) and any obstacles that may become hazards for nesting sea turtles and hatchlings like beach furniture, holes, and sandcastles. Turtles need clean and clear beaches (and oceans!) to increase their chances of survival.

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Eco kiddos by Eco- school - Illustrated by Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika - Ourboox.com

Milk Carton Bird Feeder – Steps by Steps Instructions:

1) We started off by painting the juice carton. We found we needed to coats to make the colour nice and even. We used enamel paints (for flower pots etc), as these are waterproof. Acrylics are water based and won’t last as long. Though you could use acyrlics and then add a coat of waterproof varnish.

2) Once dry, using your stanly knife, cut out a “tummy and wings” into the bottom half of your juice or milk carton. I used the the tummy, to then cut a beak shape. As to the wings, don’t cut them all out, you want to keep the “flaps” attached. This keeps the seeds a little bit more sheltered and gives you those lovely owl wings!

3) Finally, take your juice carton and glue on your bottle top eyes. And done. I later punched a little hole and hung the bird feeder outside.

Hang and enjoy.

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Eco kiddos by Eco- school - Illustrated by Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika - Ourboox.com
Eco kiddos by Eco- school - Illustrated by Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika - Ourboox.com

Carry your own containers for take-out food and leftovers

Request takeout places use your container instead of their disposable one. If they won’t do it, give them a Take Out Without card to help them understand why they should. Some examples of convenient containers are:

Stainless containers from Life Without Plastic, Eco Lunchbox, LunchBots, and others.

Stainless steel containers sold at some camping supply stores

Think bringing your own containers is too much of a hassle and won’t make a difference? Please check out my posts “Carrying Our Own Containers: Powerful Action or Pointless Inconvenience?

 

Carry a stainless steel travel mug or water bottle at all times for coffee and other drinks while out in the world

(I use my travel mug for water instead of a water bottle.) Besides the plastic lid and plastic straw, paper cups are lined with a plastic coating. When I first began this project, I got in the habit of requesting “no lid and no straw” when ordering a drink in a disposable paper cup. But nowadays, if I’ve forgotten my mug, I simply do without until I can find a water fountain or sit-down cafe or restaurant with durable cups and glasses. This process helps me to remember my reusable mug next time.

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Eco kiddos by Eco- school - Illustrated by Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika - Ourboox.com

Return containers for berries, cherry tomatoes, and other small fruits and vegetables to the farmers market to be reused

 

One reader asked what I do about cherry tomatoes or berries since they can get crushed in a reusable bag. I buy them at the farmer’s market in the green plastic basket and then return it to the farmer each week for a refill, so I never have to take new ones. Don’t have a farmers market nearby? Ask your local grocer to take them back. Or empty your berries into your own container before leaving the store and leave the plastic basket behind. If enough of us do this, perhaps merchants will take note.

 

Bring your own container for meat and prepared foods

 

I take my own containers with me to the butcher counter at Whole Foods or local butcher shop. (While the humans in our house don’t each much meat, the kitties do.) The butcher can weigh the container and deduct the weight, just as is done with bulk foods. The servers at the deli/prepared foods counter can do the same thing. Just ask.

 

Buy fresh bread that comes in either paper bags or no bags

At the farmers market or natural food stores, I can buy bread that comes in only paper. At the bakery down the street, I can have my bread placed in my own cloth bag and avoid all packaging. Bread keeps fresh when stored in the cloth bag inside an airtight tin. I reuse a popcorn tin that was sent to me as a gift several years ago. Often, thrift stores have more of these tins than they know what to do with. Fresh bread is a bit more expensive than its plastic-packaged cousins, but to me, it’s worth it. And since I buy so few new things, I can afford to spend more for quality, plastic-free food. See my post, Fresh Bread: Buy It, Store It, Keep It Fresh Without Plastic.

Choose milk in returnable glass bottles

 

Many areas have local dairies that provide milk in returnable glass bottles rather than plastic or plastic-coated cardboard (yes, all cardboard milk containers are coated inside and out with plastic, not wax.) In my area, I buy Straus milk, which is available in natural grocery stores. Unfortunately, the milk bottle does contain an unrecyclable plastic cap. But I would rather buy milk in a glass bottle capped with plastic than milk contained in plastic on all sides.

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Eco kiddos by Eco- school - Illustrated by Olena Muzyka and Ira Chaika - Ourboox.com
This free e-book was created with
Ourboox.com

Create your own amazing e-book!
It's simple and free.

Start now

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