September Calendar

Heavenly Father has given us this beautiful world as our home. We can say thank you by treating it with love and respect. Carefully open the staples and remove pages 24 and 25 from the magazine. Then close the staples and put the calendar pages on your wall. In boxes around the edge are things you can do to keep the earth healthy and conserve its resources. Each time you do one of these things, color its box blue in honor of clear skies and clean water.

Whenever it is safe, walk short distances instead of having your parents take you in the car.	Ask your parents to set the thermostat a little lower in the winter and higher in the summer.	Plant and tend a vegetable garden. Ask your parents for help.	Turn off dripping taps. If a drip won’t stop, tell your parents so that the faucet can be repaired.
Don’t use running water to wash dishes. Fill the sink instead.	Help your parents remember not to pour dangerous things such as motor oil, pesticide, or paint thinners on the ground or into the gutter.	Turn down the volume of your music. Noise is a form of pollution.	Suggest a cleanup project as a quarterly Primary activity.
If you wash your own clothes, wait till you have a full load before washing.	If it is your job to take care of the lawn, cut it high and don’t overwater.	Don’t buy battery-operated toys or ask for them as gifts. If you must use batteries, use rechargeable ones.	Help a friend be kinder to the earth.
Don’t release balloons. Animals can swallow them and suffer injury or death.	With your parents’ permission, put a plastic bottle filled with water in the toilet tank to reduce water use. Be sure that it doesn’t interfere with the flushing mechanism.	Eat more fruits and vegetables and less meat.	Visit the library and find books with other suggestions.
Suggest a family home evening to discuss other ways your family can protect the earth.	Don’t buy products that have lots of unnecessary packaging.	Plant a tree as a family. It will produce oxygen.	When eating fast food, don’t take more napkins, straws, etc., than you really need.
Write a letter to some company that pollutes the environment. People really do listen to children.	Take short showers instead of baths.	Put a collar with a bell on your pet cat to warn other small animals, like birds, that a cat is near.	Encourage your parents to reuse grocery bags instead of getting new ones. When you make a small purchase, refuse a sack.
Don’t let the water run while you brush your teeth.	Keep a pitcher of cold water in the refrigerator instead of letting the tap run to cool drinking water.	Recycle. Separate newsprint, glass, plastic, and aluminum products and ask your parents to help you take them to a recycling center.	Don’t litter. Clean up litter you find.
Decide what you want to get from the refrigerator before opening the door. Keep the door open as briefly as possible.	Cut up the plastic rings from six-packs and milk bottles so that animals can’t get caught in them later.	Keep outside doors closed when the air conditioner or furnace is running.	Turn on only the lights you need, and turn them off when you leave a room.