Whatever it takes and just for fun, grab the kids in your life and learn more about climate change via Lithuania, PetPunk, and some of their “concerned kittens!” Here is the first of 3 short videos that use some “crazy kittens” to help us understand more about greenhouse gases, climate change and what humans are doing to change our planet. If you and your kids like this short video, check out the next two as well..!
Keep smiling and power on, together we can make a difference!
Climate change is real, its here, it’s happening now. Every day we are confronted by new proof from nature, new scientific studies and more anecdotal stories told by our friends and relatives about how our world is changing before our eyes. Allergies are worse, rain and snow are coming down in heavier downpours and drought continues to plague much of our country. But if you are like us, your neighbor, friend, brother or grandma may still insist on challenging you about the facts on climate change.
Grab the kids in your life and sit down with Al Gore, while he explains a cool new tool, Reality Drop, developed by our friends at The Climate Reality Project that you can use to help present the facts. Let Mr. Gore show you and your family how to spread the truth about the Climate Crisis and “destroy” denial. Reality Drop is also a game, so your kids can rack up points and “win” while we all win by facing denial head on and making sure that truth wins out!
While you’ve got their attention, help your kids (and your neighbor, friend, brother or grandma) understand what price we are all paying when we let polluters go “free” by not putting a “Price of Carbon!”…This short video narrated by Reggie Watts for the Climate Reality Project is fun, to the point, and easy to understand…
So do something today…help spread the truth about the climate crisis, beginning at home..
At ClimateMama we owe our start, our inspiration, and a debt of gratitude to the Climate Reality Project it’s staff, leaders and it’s chairman Al Gore. Our own Climate Mama, Harriet was personally trained by Mr. Gore and the Climate Reality Project staff six years ago. This training was the beginning and impetus for the development and launch of our ClimateMama organization. Along the way there have been many wonderful surprises, great friendships and amazing programs and projects that Climate Reality has shared with us, and that we in turn have been able to share with you.
We want to tell you about some new and exciting developments that we think will make you smile, help you learn and give you real and simple ways to share more about the reality of the climate crisis, how we can all be part of the solution, AND have some fun along the way! (Because we believe that all should be able to enjoy our journey to change the world and make it a better place…)
1. Catch our own Climate Mama in an up close and personal Town Hall encounter with Al Gore. Harriet was invited to participate in SiriusXM’s “Town Hall with Al Gore” hosted by Ari Rabin-Havt—host of SiriusXM’s The Agenda, Senior Advisor to Media Matters and a leading voice in progressive politics—The Town Hall program with Al Gore, was recorded in New York City at the Sirrius XM studios. The program will air on various channels and at various times: 3/2 4 pm ET , Saturday 3/2 10 pm ET , Tuesday 3/5 5 pm ET , Tuesday 3/5 10 pm ET.
Find out how Mr. Gore answered Harriet’s question: Our community at ClimateMama is made up of many parents who are choosing to face reality head on and who are often very knowledgeable about the current and anticipated impacts of our changing climate. We recognize the path we are hurtling down. When we sit back and let ourselves put our arms around the big picture, the perils that our planet faces and which we and our families are headed towards, it often feels overwhelming. Knowing the uncertainties we face and the hard choices we will need to make in a very short time, how do you nurture yourself and what advice would you give others on how to build the inner strength needed to keep “fighting the fight” and believing in a hopeful path for our future?
Tell us what you think and what you do to nuture yourself and build inner strength as you find and fight for solutions to combat climate change?
2. Grab the kids in your life and check out the latest tool and fun program and game developed by Climate Reality called Reality Drops. Do you ever find yourself at a loss when confronted by a friend, colleague or stranger who questions your facts on the climate crisis and seems to have “contradictory” facts of their own? Not to worry, Drop some Reality on your friends and family today…!
“Just like the tobacco companies in the ’50s, the fossil fuel industry has engaged in a well- funded and coordinated effort to mislead the public about the scientific reality of climate change,” said Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, and Founder and Chairman of the Climate Reality Project. “Reality Drop provides an easy, intuitive way for people to arm themselves with the facts, educate their friends, family, and networks, and call on the media to report the truth.”
3. Take two minutes with the kids in your life and watch this short video that helps us understand why we should Put a Price on Carbon.There is a lot of talk about why we should be doing this and how that would help us solve the climate crisis, this helps put it all in perspective. We are allowing fossil fuel companies to use our atmosphere like a sewer, free of charge. This is hurting our economy, our health, our children, our future and our now!
For many of us, the heat of summer is beginning to fade and fall colors are popping up on the trees and shrubs in our neighborhoods. We take a moment to “catch our breath” and gear up for the frenetic action that fall and “back to school” brings. Most of our “big” and “bigger” kids are already back at college or school and we Climate Mamas and Papas continue to be hard at work both inside and outside our homes, starting, refining and perfecting our family “climate change plans.” Over the summer and continuing this fall we love receiving your e-mails, posts, comments and tweets about the multitude of ways that you and your family are “making a difference” on climate change – from keeping the air conditioning dials turned up a few degrees, to riding bikes instead of walking to the park, unplugging electronics that aren’t in use, turning the lights out when leaving a room and making sure to do the best you can to “precycle as well as recycle.”
While we know that the kids in our lives often model and emulate what we do, why not give them the opportunity to “shine” on their own and showcase what they KNOW about being “environmentally sound and climate conscious global citizens!” Show the kids in your life how they can share their stories, videos, and ideas with the EPA’s Team Energy Star. We all know that amazing ideas flow out of the “mouths of babes,” so why not give your “babes” a chance to shine? When we help our family, our community, our place of worship, business or our school, we are setting an example of ways to help the world around us.
The EPA’s Team Energy Star is running an Essay Contest NOW through September 17th. The kids in your life are invited to submit a video, essay, poem or any other creative “picture” that showcases how to use Team Energy Star resources to develop energy and climate saving ideas that work for your family.
For some examples and ideas that children have already submitted, take a visit over to The Big Green Purse where some fun entries for the Team Energy star contest are already on display.
being there for her kids, running a business and raising attention to climate change, all at the same time. (Makes us tired just watching!) Help us support Penny and the wonderful company she has founded, Green Kid Crafts, which as been selected by Green America as one of the finalists in the Green America People and Planet Awards. Join us and vote for Green Kid Crafts today. If you let Penny know you could even win a Green Kid Craft box.
I took a Green Craft Kid box with me on vacation this summer. I joined my brother and his family and we spent several weeks in the wilds of western Canada. We had kids of varying ages to entertain. Not a problem on sunny days, when we stay outside, playing in the sand and water
Photo used with Permission
all day, but on stormy days, living in tight quarters with 12 people, we were constantly looking for games, new crafts and new recipes to try! Internet access is spotty and we try to stay away, as best we can, from electronic toys.
I was curious how the Green Kid Crafts would go over with our kids, who ranged in age from 8-12. While the 12 year old won’t admit it, one of the crafts (the scrapbook) kept her and several of her cousins entertained for almost an hour and my 8 year old nephew loved the pirate project. From the packaging down to each of the inputs that goes into each craft, Penny has thought how best to remain mindful of our planet, and help our children play, learn and explore at the same time. Our kids decided the crafts we had would be “best enjoyed” by kids 6-10, but we found the older ones seemed to enjoy helping the younger ones just as much as the younger ones loved creating the projects with their older cousins! Check out the site.
As we acknowledge the realities of our changing climate and look to adapt to these changes, letting our children learn and play, but in a conscious way that shows them they can have fun and be mindful at the same time is extremely important. Helping our kids learn to utilize, create and enjoy items they find around them, make use of recycled materials, and build and imagine things that last and that they can use and come back to again and again, is critical for our future.
You are a mother, a father, a grandparent, an uncle, an aunt, a teacher or a child at heart. When you hear the Native American saying, “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”, it makes you stop for a moment and think. You love nature, travel, adventure and believing in a world that is special and unique. Climate change and global warming are words that alarm you, that often seem too big to get your arms around. You care about what’s happening to the world and notice small changes in your own life that seem to point in the direction of a threatened environment. But you wonder if these changes are real, and if they are you can’t imagine what you can do to help change what is happening.
Climate Change so often seems too big to get our hands around. We wonder where we can start and how we can actually make a difference. Each one of us has a different path that we will follow. Some of us cut a wider swath than others, but each of us has a role to play. We would like to introduce you to some amazing individuals, Climate Mamas and Papas who are making a difference, who are, through their daily lives, affecting the lives of all of us. They inspire us, empower us, and challenge us to reach for the stars, to strive to do the best we can to help change the crash course we are currently on with our environment. Lets meet some of these amazing people and find out what inspires them. Meet our featured Climate Mama, Desiree Di Mauro today!
The Climate Reality Project is one of the world’s leading organizations dedicated to mobilizing action around climate change. With a global movement that is more than 2 million strong and a grassroots network of trained Climate Leaders, Climate Reality is "spreading the truth and unleashing the cultural momentum to solve the climate crisis."
Games & Toys 
