The list is growing

14 children have joined the 10 Steps for Children Program at www.10stepcap.com/10-steps-for-children.html. Here's what they are saying:

“I’m going to help the earth by recycling more and planting trees.”

“The first thing I will do is to help my family save water.”

“I am extremely happy to be in the 10 Steps Program because I love and care for the world.”

“I will try to help you, but I can’t promise that everybody will help… I will tell my friends and family about your blog!”

“I will try to make people participate. I just LOVE this idea.”

“Our planet really needs help and I appreciate that you care about it.”

“The first thing I’ll do when I leave the school is that I’m gonna recycle more and use less energy.”

“I love this idea, I always liked the idea of helping the planet. Now I have the opportunity.”

“I eat fruits and vegetables from my farm, we have lots of trees and flowers. I really like thinking that I can do a part by helping the world.!”

“I always thurn off the television when it’s not in use.”

“And yes, I’ll use less make-up, cause it uses petroleum! It will be fun being a more ‘green’ person.”

“The first thing I did to reduce the plastic bags I use was to buy cloth bags so I can re-use them.”

“Ways I will help: 1. shorter showers; 2. share ‘going green’ with others; 3. Go blue, also help save water; 4. avoid plastic cups; 5. dance the RE-USE RE-DUCE AND RECYCLE! jingle; 6. make earth day a daily habit.”

“This weekend I talked to my parents about the 10 Step CAP!!!”

 If you're not signed on yet, do it today! 10 Steps for Children I'd love to hear from you.

Nana Greta

A 10 Step Program for Children

Hello dear children -                                                                                                                                         I am getting ready to start a program for children where you will be able to promise to do some good things for the planet. 
Earth Day is coming soon and that will be a wonderful time to start this program. Here are the simple steps that you will be able to pledge to do - please let me know what you think. A longer paper will give directions and suggestions about how to follow these steps.

10 Steps for Children

To help keep the Planet Earth safe for people, animals and plants, I will take these 10 Steps:

1.     Talk with my parents about how we can help

2.    Conserve electricity and use solar energy

3.    Walk, bicycle, and use public transportation

4.   Save water

5.    Re-cycle

6.    Re-use

7.    Eat more natural and local foods

8.    Plant trees, garden

9.    Read, study, learn more about the climate problem

10. Tell others about the climate and 10 Steps    

for Children

I hope to hear from you soon.

Love, Nana Greta

5th Graders in Houston & To do List

Yesterday, Tuesday March 2, I visited a wonderful bunch of 5th grade students at Garden Oaks Elementary School in Houston. Just like the 4th grade students in Massachusetts and the 5th graders in Brazil, these Houston children were smart, bright-eyed and full of energy and interest. You, my dear friends, are the hope of the future and I know that many of you are already starting to do the things that will help keep our environment healthy for humans, animals and plants. Thanks you for welcoming me.

Garden Oaks Elementary School in Houston, Texas

If this is your first time on this blog, please find the link in the right margin that will take you back to February 2009 when I started the blog. Then you can make your way through my Climate Walk: you can just look at the photos, or you can read the blogs, and you can even read the comments of other students.

Today I want to post the list of things you can do that I developed for yesterday's students. I wasn't able to make copies for them so I promised to put it in the blog. You already know many of these things. Maybe you will write about what you're doing (all of you, wherever you are) in the comments. You don't have to have a special name to leave a comment - simply post it as Anonymous. Be sure to put your name in the comment so I can respond to you.

What you can do …

Save Electricity - Whenever we use electricity, we help put greenhouse gases into the air. By turning off lights, the television, and the computer when you are through with them, you can help a lot.

Bike, Bus, and Walk - You can save energy by sometimes taking the bus, riding a bike, or walking.

Carpool - For example, four people can ride together in one car instead of driving two or more cars to work, to the restaurant, to church.

Save Water – More and more people are using water and in many places there is not enough to go around. You can use less water when you shower and brush your teeth, when you wash dishes and clothes, when you water the lawn.

Recycle and Re-use - Recycle or re-sue cans, bottles, plastic bags, and newspapers. When you recycle, you send less trash to the landfill and you help save natural resources, like trees, oil, and elements such as aluminum. Re-using things, such as zip -lock bags and cloth items, means that less new material is utilized to produce a new product.

Talk to Your Family and Friends - Talk with your family and friends about climate change. Let them know what you've learned.

Plant Trees - Planting trees is fun and a great way to reduce greenhouse gases. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the air.

Read - Learning about the environment is very important. There are many good books that will help you learn. To get started, ask a teacher or a librarian for some suggestions. You can learn about solar energy, wind energy, about how to save water, about new and more efficient kinds of transportation, and about how what we eat can help cut down on climate change.

(Adapted from EPA websites)

Love, Nana Greta

From the Pan American School of Bahia

Today I am visiting the school in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, where my daughter Sofia Hart teaches 5th grade. I've already met some of the really sweet and cute students here, and am looking forward to meeting others when I talk with the classes later: two of Miss Sofia's classes and one of Ms. Anne's classes.

I am so thrilled that the students read my blog and wrote messages to me. This children's blog was one of the best things about my Climate Walk. I would like to continue receiving messages from children and I will try to write more interesting things about the environment and the people and creatures that are affected by Climate Change.

Love, Nana Greta

An online article for you

Dear Children,

I invite you to look at an article that includes mention of me. I am honored to be part of this group of environmentalists. Click here.

Love, Nana Greta

How about an event on October 24?

Dear Children,

This photograph is to show you that I had fun along the way when I was walking my 1150 miles from New Orleans to the Canadian border. This fancy setup was in front of a house in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Most of you will recognize this beautiful woman who walked almost 50 miles with me in July, right before she went to Brazil to teach in the PanAmerican School in Bahia. She is my daughter, Ms. Sofia Hart, and she is the one who suggested that I have a blog especially for children. I'm so glad she did.

About your comments: thanks to all of you who wrote nice things to me. I love to hear from you. I apologize to those whose names I missed before:

Gai and Igor and someone who didn't write his or her name - thanks for your comments. Let me know if I missed anyone else.

Billy and Chris, when I was your age I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I was around 14 I wanted to be a writer and called myself Inky because I always got ink on my fingers when I wrote with a fountain pen. Now that I'm grown up I keep finding new things that I want to do.

What can you do for the environment at your school? A special event on October 24 which is the International Day of Climate Action. Talk with your teachers about it. You can get lots of information on this website: www.350.org. You can register your event and it will be counted along with almost 1500 other events in over 100 countries. It doesn't have to be something complicated and difficult.

One requirement for the 350.org International Day of Climate Change is that you produce a photograph with the number 350 in a creative way. You can see examples on the website.

I hope to hear from you about your ideas.

Love, Nana Greta

PS - Robert, a late happy birthday for 9/9/99

Now that I'm home, what next?

My last week on the road included many interesting sights. I thought these horses, under the trees with the flowers in the foreground, were beautiful.

I watched these girls fishing with their father - they caught three little fishes which they were going to cook up for breakfast the next day. I thought to myself: "These children are two of the grandchildren I'm waling for."

The last day was very rainy and windy, but nothing bothered me because I was so happy. Here we're all laughing because my umbrella turned inside out.

Dear Children,

I'm at home now, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It's a beautiful, sunny day in September and I just did a little work in my garden, which got neglected because I wasn't here to do my share of taking care of it through the summer.

When I came in from the garden I read all the new comments on the blog, and I went back to March to find some of your comments there. I may have missed some so if I don't mention your name please remind me. Today I will write to all of you, whether you have written a comment or not - I appreciate your reading even if you don't respond. Here are the names of children who didn't get on the list last time:

Susan, Barbara, Anya, Anabela, Guilherme, Katie, Rani, David, and Chloe - Thanks for adding your comments. I will try to answer all you said and asked but not by name.

Coins - Unfortunately I didn't keep count of all the coins I collected, including those that others found when they were walking with me and contributed to the collection. Some of the coins are very old and damaged, and I plan to take a picture of them to show you. I think only a bank will accept them. My daughter, Ms. Hart, found a lot of coins, including dimes and quarters. Sometimes other people who were walking with me found bigger coins while I kept finding pennies. My guess is that all in all we collected about $5.00, but I spent some of the coins as I went along, so we'll never know.

New York/New York City - During my walk I didn't get very close to New York City at all. I was walking in the state of New York, through the cities of Binghamton, Syracuse, Cortland, Watertown, Canton and Potsdam, and many other villages, ending up in Rouses Point on the border with Canada and the state of Vermont.

Working for the climate - Many of you are doing good things for the Planet Earth, at home and at school. I like hearing about your efforts to recycle (including recycled art and posters), to use less water and electricity, and to learn more about global warming. It's wonderful when you share what you're doing and what you've learned with other students and with your family. Good job! I hope your student council (STUCO) can do good things for the environment.

When you grow up - I was very moved by your thoughts about what you would like to do when you grow up. I will work hard for you to have a better world to grow up in. Actually, whatever your occupation is - engineer, actress, teacher, nurse or doctor, etc. - you will have many opportunities to fight pollution and global warming. And during your time off you will be able to do things like walking a long distance to call attention to climate change.

I want to thank all of you for your enthusiasm and your kind words about my courage, and your wishes for my safety. You make me want to work all the harder for the Earth.

So what shall we do next? Please tell me what you're thinking and doing. Maybe you want to plan an event for October 24 when people all around the world will be doing things to demonstrate their desire for more action on the problem of Climate Change. I hope to hear from you. (And Happy Birthday to Nani and Anabela!)

Love, Nana Greta