<p>“Going green” may start at an earlier age for America’s youth – two in three parents have already spoken to their children about climate change and the dangers of global warming, according to a new poll.</p>Ahead of Earth Day on April 22, a recent OnePoll</a> survey asked 2,000 parents of children ages 5 through 18 about the environmental habits they adopted in the last two years.<br><br>Nearly seven in 10 parents said their families have become more sustainable and eco-conscious since the start of the pandemic.<br><br>Sixty-three percent of parents have taken active steps to teach their kids about sustainability – which for many included a discussion about climate change (65%).<br><br>Surprisingly, parents of younger children between the ages of 5 through 13 were slightly more likely to discuss climate change than those with teens ages 14 through 18 (64% 59%).<br><br>But regardless of their child’s age, parents were all on the same page when it came to recycling, which roughly half said they currently do at home (51% for 5-9 year-olds, 53% for 10-13 and 51% for 14-18).<br><br>Overall, recycling topped the list as the most popular way for parents to teach their kids about sustainability (30%).<br><br>Other popular habits included eating leftovers instead of throwing them in the trash (29%), eating healthier (28%) and using water filters instead of drinking bottled water at home (28%).<br><br>Twenty-seven percent also encourage their kids to dry their laundry via clotheslines instead of an electric dryer, shutting off the lights at home (27%) and using cloth or paper shopping bags (27%).<br><br>Other respondents have even taken up washing their family’s clothes by hand (26%) and donating used goods rather than throwing them away (26%). Both of these habits were more frequently adopted by teens (28%) than by younger children (26%), according to their parents.<br><br>While 61% of those polled identify as eco-friendly independent from their families, half have experienced guilt for their past unsustainable habits.<br><br>And many of their unsustainable habits seem related to the pandemic, such as using more disposable masks instead of cloth options (40%) and wearing disposable gloves (37%).<br><br>Parents also admitted that using more bottled hand sanitizer, driving long distances instead of flying and using single-use plastic (36%) also impacted their sustainability efforts.<p></p>
