Green Teens: How to instil sustainability values in your teens

By Dana McCauley
Ah parenthood!  Filled with so many delightful and proud moments, heart-rending and meaningful insights and – especially once your children become teens – wrinkle and stress inducing frustrations!  Once kids turn into young adults it can seem like the good manners and habits they used daily earlier in childhood will never appear again.  In fact, it’s not uncommon to see the very same child who made “save the whales” posters in grade six become a grade ten student who leaves the house without turning off a single light. Or, the TV. Or, the stereo in his or her bedroom. Is your teen a lost cause?  Certainly not!

WWF supports work in the Dongzhimen middle school, Beijing, China on environmental education and monitoring.  © Brent Stirton / Getty Images / WWF-UK

While it’s always best to start training your children to think about their impact on the environment as early as possible, that doesn’t always happen. In fact, as each day passes more adults are learning new things about the state of the planet and how our daily choices affect the globe’s future. And, while it’s better to have started on a path of conservation yesterday, it’s never too late to make a difference!
So how can parents instil sustainability values in their teenaged children? In my limited experience (I’m the mother of just one child), the soft sell works best for teens. The last thing teenagers want is to be told what to do. So, instead of just telling our son to turn out the lights (and we do – over and over again!) I wage a two pronged attack. I try to lead by example and to natter endlessly about what I’m doing and why. As my husband says, if you keep reiterating the same message, eventually it will sink in!
We also try to get our son involved in our projects. There’s no doubt that he is often a reluctant participant but we’re hopeful that he’ll carry these behaviours with him when he sets up his own household in the future. What kind of projects you ask? Well, we’ve changed our light bulbs to more energy efficient compact fluorescents and other lower energy use bulbs. Since our son is very tall, he’s the perfect person to change the ceiling lights. And, as he works, I tell him why we’re changing the bulbs and what the effect will be not just on our monthly bills but also on our energy consumption. Likewise, we’ve lowered our winter time thermostat temperature a few degrees and increased our summertime setting by the same amount. “Isn’t it fun to wear cozy slippers and fuzzy sweaters in the winter?” we exclaim. “Don’t you adore summer when you can wear shorts and a tank top until midnight?” we ask with glee. At best, I get an eye roll and occasionally even a sneer in return but, the seed is planted.
Speaking of planting, we also cultivate a small vegetable garden and buy foods that we feel are more sustainable such as local fruits in season and MSC certified sustainable fish and seafood. Serving sustainable foods ensures our dinner time chats almost always include talk about why we made these choices and why each food item is on our dinner plates. Besides being instructional, these conversations have enriched our relationships. Instead of local weather and neighbourhood gossip, our dinner time conversations often turn into meaningful discussions where our son gets to hear our opinions about all kinds of topics including politics and nutrition as well as sustainability.  So, while we discuss the merits of MSC certification on our Janes Premium Battered Haddock, we’re also evolving our relationship from parents and child toward becoming peers with individual insights and opinions.

Dana McCauley is the Culinary Director at Janes Family Foods where she uses food trend insights to develop new food products. She is also a judge on Food Network Canada’s original reality TV series Recipe to Riches. Find Dana and Janes on twitter: @DanaMcCauley, @JanesGreen, @Janesfamilyfd