How can we keep environment green?

"What are some ways to keep the environment green?" asked Rachel Settle, 11, of Gurnee. Rachel is a fifth-grader at O'Plaine School in Gurnee.

High five for wanting to go green. Going green is another way of saying that you want to keep the air, water and land clean and are willing to work to repair what's become polluted. It's a great goal and a huge challenge. Most of all, going green means changing old habits.

Do you reduce, reuse and recycle? Spend your green cash on green products? Will you be purchasing something that will be headed for a landfill in a year or two? Will the product harm the environment? Are there other options? Change the ways you think about the things around you.

"Explore, educate and explain," are the tactics Kristian Gustavson recommends for understanding what's happening to the environment. Gustavson is founder of the California-based Below The Surface, an organization that addresses water quality issues. "90 Days in 90 Ways" is Gustavson's curriculum for improving the watershed one day at a time. "Figure out why a healthy environment and clean water are important issues to you," Gustavson said. Find out more at belowthesurface.org.

Become active in communicating the negative results of pollution. "Use your powers of observation to see how people around you are wasting energy and wasting time driving," said Bill Walker, president of Clean Air Engineering Inc. in Palatine. Investigate what's happening around you; communicate your findings through blogs; present your findings at public meetings.

"Hold focus groups to brainstorm ideas. How about a study of daytime and nighttime thermostat settings? You can raise money to buy setback thermostats for families who cannot afford them," Walker said.

Begin at home.

"Instead of buying water in plastic bottles, carry your own water bottle and fill it as needed," said Dorie Roth, program associate at the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm in Grayslake. "Start a compost bin in your backyard," she said. "Not sure how? There are several Web sites and books at your local library."

Start a club; clean up your school property; talk to school officials. Now's a great time to go green. In only two years, the world population will grow by more than a billion people. That means more people will be using and abusing our natural resources.

Check these out

The Warren Newport Library in Gurnee suggests these titles on going green:

• "S is for Save the Planet: A How-To-Be Green Alphabet," by Brad Herzog

• "Living Green," by Helen Orme

• "Mission: Save the Planet," by Sally Ride and Tam O'Shaughnessy

• "Building a Green Community," by Ellen Rodger

• "You Can Save the Planet: 50 Ways You Can Make a Difference," by Jacquie

• On the Web: Planet Protectors Club at epa.gov/epawaste/education/kids/planetprotectors/index.htm