Climate change is scary, but Earth-friendly activism doesn’t have to be! Take this Earth Day quiz with your girl to help her discover her unique talents and how to put them to use. Choosing the right Earth-friendly actions can make climate activism fun!
1. Which school project sounds like the most fun to her?
- interviewing a state representative about their plans to reduce the state’s use of fossil fuels
- inventing a phone charger that gets its power from the sun
- working with other students to plant trees in a park
- creating a video about how climate change is affecting people in her city
2. Climate change has caused a lot more rain in her town, and now many neighborhoods are at risk of flooding. Your girl would most like to help by…
- calling the mayor’s office to ask for more plants and less concrete in her city, which could help absorb floodwater in the future.
- designing an app that helps families find safe, free places to stay if they need to leave their homes during a flood.
- putting together emergency kits with food, water, and blankets and passing them out to families in flood-prone neighborhoods.
- creating a digital poster with flood safety tips.
3. At school, she learns that reducing food waste and eating less meat are great ways to slow down climate change. To take action, she…
- talks to her principal about adding more veggie-based meals to the cafeteria menu.
- invents a reusable wrapping that students can use to keep their uneaten food fresh for later.
- volunteers to work in her school’s new garden, which will help provide fresh veggies for the cafeteria.
- gives a presentation for a class project about why food waste matters and how to prevent it.
4. Her U.S. senator says he opposes wind energy for her state because it would be too expensive. She…
- organizes a protest in her town.
- calculates how much money windmills would save over 20 years and shares the results with him.
- volunteers at a walkathon to raise money for a new wind energy project.
- makes a collage of a windmill using bottle caps, plastic containers, and single-use utensils, and enters her work in an art show.
Answers:
Mostly A's
Loud and Proud Leader
When she speaks, people listen. She has big ideas and isn’t afraid to let people know about them.
Here are some Earth Day projects your young leader might enjoy:
- Participate in an outdoor or virtual climate change protest. She might have fun making signs or buttons ahead of time and sharing pictures of her work with friends. If she’s protesting in person, make sure she brings plenty of snacks, water, extra layers, and a chaperone!
- Write a letter to a local leader about a topic she cares about, such as creating a community garden in her neighborhood or eliminating food deserts in underserved neighborhoods.
- Speak at a city council meeting about an issue affecting her town.
- Join a climate change club at school or start her own. With the group, she can brainstorm fun ways to make a difference, like by raising money for solar panels or getting students excited about recycling.
- Talk to a local business owner about ways to be kinder to the planet. For example, she could approach a café about offering reusable mugs or a grocery store about offering a discount for people who bring reusable bags.
Mostly B's
Savvy scientist
Asking questions, staying curious, and solving problems are what your girl does best. She loves to tinker with technology and create clever solutions to everyday problems. Look for climate change issues that require analyzing numbers or inventing new tools. And when she fails, remind her that scientists learn from their mistakes!
Here are some climate activism activities she might enjoy:
- Write out a list of problems she’s noticed at home, school, in her town, or on the news, such as poor air quality or windows that leak heat in the winter. Brainstorm a list of solutions.
- Research rain gardens and build one in her yard.
- Help with a local wildlife survey to track animals in your area and understand that challenges they face.
- Research technologies that scientists have already invented to solve climate change. How could those tools be improved? How could they be used in new ways?
- Read a book about a type of clean energy technology to better understand how it works. Come up with a list of ideas for using more of that technology in her town.
Mostly C's
Hands-on helper
Your girl loves to roll up her sleeves and get the job done, even if it means getting dirty. She enjoys working with others on projects and trying a little bit of everything. Even when a job takes hard work, she knows how to make it fun!
Here are some activities she might enjoy:
- Join a group planting trees on city streets.
- Clean up trash and recyclables from a beach.
- Participate in a climate change fundraiser for her school, such as a reusable grocery bag sale that will raise money for compost bins.
- Collect school supplies for girls around the world. (Scientists say that educating girls is one of the most important ways to slow climate change.)
- Volunteer for a trail-building day to help more people connect with nature.
- Help build houses for people experiencing homelessness. (Houses help everyone stay safe during natural disasters and severe weather caused by climate change.)
- Grow vegetables in a community garden.
Mostly D's
Eager educator
Your girl loves spreading the word about climate change so that as many people as possible can understand the issue. Remember—she doesn’t have to know everything about the problem before she jumps in.
She can start now by:
- Doing a school project about a climate change issue
- Making an art piece about climate change and submitting it to an art fair
- Filming a video about how climate change is affecting people in her state
- Talking to her family about a climate change story from the news
- Creating a digital poster about tips for finding cute outfits at thrift shops instead of buying brand-new clothes
For more ideas about how your girl can make a difference for the planet, check out Love the Earth, written by Mel Hammond and illustrated by Monique Dong.
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