Who is going to suffer the most from environmental degradation?

Kids

...photo credit woodleywonderworks-flickr

Who is going to have to take over what ever green programs are being implemented today:

Kids.

If kids don’t learn what’s going on in the environment and care about it today –

we can kiss tomorrow goodbye.

Here are six good green websites for kids I’ve come across while trolling what’s out there.  Ive  arranged them in pairs:  a couple each  for young kids,  middle grades and teens.

1.  WebRangers

This is the National Park Service’s site for kids of all ages.   This on-line Junior Ranger program is tailored for kids of different ages.  It  includes puzzles, stories, and projects.  It works like  scouts in that you complete activities and earn badges.  You can play games and track your progress.  So far there are 92,202 registered WebRangers and 4,031 have earned their WebRanger patches by completing all the activities.  I am tempted to become a Web Ranger myself.  I would learn a ton about our national parks.  If you’ve been watching Ken Burns PBS series with your kids, steer them to this site!

2.  eekOworld

This site is put together by PBS, so it has wonderful visuals and special effects.  It’s aimed at kids 6-9, and it’s wonderfully interactive. Kids can create and care for their own EekoCreature, then explore EeekoHouse for conservation ideas.  The site is hosted by a creature who is kind of a flying chimpanzee with a grating voice, but there are many voices I find irritating on cartoon shows that kids seem quite engaged by.  I would guess it works.

3.  EEK!

This is a very cool site from my own state of Wisconsin!

An electronic magazine for kids in grades 4-8, it offers kids many choices to surf around and learn more about the great outdoors.  For example, Go to  Our Earth , from there to Global Warming Is Hot Stuff , where kids can read about the greenhouse effect, what might happen as the world heats up and the site ends suggestions about what kids can do, including conserving electricity, reusing and recycling.  Looking to the future, kids can click on Get a Job , and learn more about the life of a park ranger, a wildlife biologist or a hydro-geologist.

Tell any young artist or writer you know that EEK is on the lookout for kid’s nature artwork and stories about the outdoors. Here’s the link.

4.  Super Natural Adventures

“The more you learn about the world, the more you are going to want to take care of it!” say Ryan, Will and Michael,  three American brothers, ages 11-14 who live in Costa Rica and have created their own amazing website.   Their mission is to get kids psyched about nature.  They are launching Operation Planet Earth and are recruiting every kid who watches their adventures.  This stuff is irresistible.  Even if we don’t all live in or travel to exotic locals, their basic message is compelling.  And who could tell kids better than other kids?

5.  TUNZA for Children

Despite the name, this United Nations site has a lot of good material for teens.  Among other things, this site has a great link to Movies on Children and Climate Change.

And it has a really compelling 27-page downloadable pocket guide called The New Climate Deal.  This cuts to the chase, but with a very “we can do something about this” spin.  And if we can’t do something about this, why am I typing and why are you reading?

6.  I Buy Different

This site pulls together the very real connection between teens, shopping and protecting the environment.  ibuydifferent.org is part of Be, Live, Buy Different—Make a Difference, a national campaign from World Wildlife Fund  and the Center for a New American Dream. The goal is to help young people learn how they can make a difference by buying differently. For example, did you know that if just one out of every ten middle and high school students each bought just one recycled notebook this year, they would save over 60,000 trees, conserve 25.5 million gallons of water, and stop 5,250,000 pounds of global warming gases from being released?