How Parents Are Going Green For Their Kids’ Health

Introduction
Parenting is one of the greatest at the same time the most challenging God given responsibility one can ever have. Everything that a parent does is for the best interest of their children not only at the present but also for their future. Going green is one of the ways that parents do to ensure the safety of their children in all rounds and especially with the health matters. Doing this therefore involves a number of ways and such could include;

Water conservation
Efficient use of water is what every green parent advocates for as this is not only a way of preserving the natural resource but also a good method of boosting energy saving and also cutting water pollution. It is therefore the responsibility of every parent to teach their kids to develop good habits such as;
Tightly turning off the water taps to ensure that they do not drip.
Avoid leaving the taps running while brushing ones teeth or when doing the dishes.
Avoid putting hazardous chemicals in the drain since this can harm the water systems.
For any water that is left over, use it to water the plants or even on your pet’s dishes.
Use of biodegradable soaps, detergents and shower gels.

Energy conservation
Energy efficiency is another way of going green that parents should instill in their kids. Some of the ways in which this can be put into practice include:
Proper monitoring of lights by ensuring that they are switched off whenever one leaves the room.
Electronic appliances should always be off when not in use such includes computers, TVs, chargers, video game units etc.
Use of energy saving bulbs which are more economic than those that consume high energy
Use of solar lighting products especially for illumination.
Whenever possible, minimize car use. You could take a walk if not going far or even carpool with your neighbors.

Management of waste
Minimizing waste is very important for any one going green. Reusing and recycling waste is key in this area whenever possible.
You could organize a clean up in the neighborhood that will ensure that the walkways and the parks are cleaned
Selection of product
Note that, not all the products are created equally therefore always go for the green materials which are products that have been made with recycled and biodegradable materials.
Avoid using disposable batteries as they can discharge toxins into the earth but instead uses the rechargeable ones since they are safe.
Instead of using pesticides for your plants, use the non toxic alternatives.
Get bags that you can reuse again and again for your shopping and groceries.
For your lunches use reusable food containers and water bottles.
Avoid using anti-bacterial soaps as this will ensure that your kids come in contact with useful bacteria.
Gardening
Every parent who is going green always garden. This ensures that they are aware of everything that is in the food taken in since they are the ones growing it. This will also minimize the use of processed products thus living healthy lives with their kids.

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Could Energy Innovation Create A 'Green Bubble'?

 

In a series of ten stories airing this week on Morning Edition and All Things Considered and published here on NPR.org, we examine the costs, the politics and other challenges of upgrading the country's electricity grid.

Wind projects, like this one near Palm Springs, Calif., could be the start of a green energy "bubble."

David McNew/Getty Images Wind projects, like this one near Palm Springs, Calif., could be the start of a green energy "bubble."

David McNew/Getty Images
Alyson Hurt and Andrew Prince/NPR

One argument for a major overhaul of the U.S. electricity grid is to encourage the development of more renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar. President Obama certainly has gotten behind green energy, and his administration is part of a concerted effort to help the industry grow.

In the wake of the housing bubble, that has some asking whether the country is headed for a renewable energy bubble.

Eric Janszen founded the financial advisory company iTulip in the midst of the Internet stock bubble. Janszen, whose company was named for the Dutch tulip bulb bubble in the 1630s, has made a career out of studying financial bubbles.

He says bubbles start with a kernel of something good — say, homeownership or the development of the Internet or, in this case, energy that causes less pollution. But then, he says, outside forces come in and create a sort of mania.

"You'll know that we're at some stage of an energy bubble when you start to hear about how you can get rich quick in the energy market," Janszen says. But first, he says, a few things have to happen. There must be significant government involvement designed to focus energy and capital on the specific industry — and clearly that's already happening.

"To really make these things go, you need a new source of credit," he says. In the housing bubble, it was mortgage-backed securities. Janszen says this element is important because you need a lot of capital gushing in to inflate stock and other asset prices.

Developing Plans, Finding Funding

But credit is a problem right now for renewable energy developers. Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens was forced to delay construction of a 1,000-megawatt wind project in Texas, and worries about an impending renewable energy bubble aren't keeping him up at night.

"I wake up in the night wondering 'Where am I going to get the money to build this project, because I've already got $150 million in it'," Pickens says. He says part of the problem is that natural gas prices have dropped by more than half since last summer, and it's difficult to justify using wind to generate electricity when gas is so much cheaper. Add to that one of the other challenges of wind: It's going to rely heavily on an upgraded electricity grid that isn't built yet to get power from wind corridors to population centers.

Pickens says another issue may stand in the way of a renewable energy bubble: While the Obama administration is promoting the industry, the specifics of the government's plans aren't completely clear.

"But I think once you get through this year, it's going to be pretty clear how they expect [to] cause the industry to kick off and go," Pickens says.

Congress is working on legislation that would limit greenhouse gas emissions and then turn them into a commodity that can be traded. Such a cap-and-trade system might be the seed for creating the credit necessary to get a renewable energy bubble going, Janszen says.

"Some think the investment banks will get into the cap-and-trade business and figure out a way to use that market to create securities that can then be the foundation for an asset price inflation," Janszen says.

So, while a few people out there still see the potential for a renewable energy bubble, more pieces have to fall in place first, not the least of which is major upgrades to the country's electricity grid.

Planning for that is under way. The Electric Power Research Institute was given $1.3 million in federal stimulus money recently to develop a framework for grid developers to follow. The group expects to complete that work by early summer.

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