- Walk through the buildings and be sure thermostats are set to proper temperature.
- Catch run-off water from roofs to water flowers later.
- Put up signs to remind people to turn off lights.
- If you must print on paper, use half-sheets when possible.
- Get motion-sensing light switches.
- Use e-mail instead of printed newsletters or memos.
- Use low-flow showerheads.
- Use people-powered wagons for short deliveries within camp instead of gasoline-powered vehicles.
- Check the energy efficiency of the building. Utilize your own property staff, or ask a professional to help.
- Change filters on equipment frequently.
- Check insulation, drafty windows and doors, ceilings and walls, air ducts, refrigerators, air conditioners, furnaces, and boilers.
- Use computerized thermostats that set back over time, keep proper temps in different rooms.
- Install sun filters on windows.
- Photocopy on both sides of the paper.
- Revisit existing programs or activities, emphasizing conservation
. . . turn "Clean Cabin Award" into "Cabin Conservation Award"; "nap time" becomes "human energy conservation period." Let the campers put an environmental or conservation purpose into typical camp activities. - Use marker boards more, easel pads less.
- Have each cabin group adopt a trail for the camp season, keeping it clean all season long.
- Use scrap paper.
- Plant perennial flowers and herbs instead of annuals.
- Check your document before printing – does it use excessive pages?
- Play games related to environmental awareness.
- Use computers more, paper less.
- Keep charts: maintenance of equipment, temperature of refrigerators/freezers, utility costs. Monitor usage and maintenance closely.
- Put up educational posters showing what your camp is doing to conserve energy.
- When brushing your teeth, turn off the water.
- Do more outdoor activities (in every program area!).
- Take short showers.
- Complain about the weather less; appreciate the outdoors more.
- Add a section to the camp Web site on how the camp has "gone green."
- Remind people to turn off lights and close doors.
- Build nesting boxes for birds.
- Re-use supplies. Repair before replacing.
- Make recycled arts and crafts.
- Start a weather forecasting program at camp.
- Consider "green" architecture when you build.
- Be a nature sleuth: develop your own detective kit with magnifying glass paper and pencil to record interesting things you see while hiking.
- Wear weather-appropriate clothing.
- Use rechargeable batteries in your flashlights.
- Get recycling dumpsters, and place containers around your camp.
- Have a sound-pollution free day—no radios, televisions, CDs, or other non-natural sounds.
- Buy supplies and equipment that has less packaging.
- Make a compost area.
- Water landscaping lawns and athletic fields conservatively.
- Change to low energy light bulbs.
- Pass energy and resource costs on to members, to encourage them to conserve too.
- Create an environmental award or program.
- Create an environmental committee of staff and volunteers.
- Plant a garden of flowers and/or vegetables.
- Plant native plants
- Buy supplies and equipment made from recycled material.
- Good resources: Ten Minute Field Trips, Project Wild, Project Learning Tree, Leopold Project, Globe Project.
- Put up bird feeders.
- Find metaphors in nature; teach life’s lessons.
- Take a field trip to a nature center or environmental education program.
- Have a special tree in camp. Give it a personality, meet by it, tell stories about its long life.
- Invite camp staff to provide program ideas.
- Make use of wild land near your camp.
- Call the experts (free!): County Soil and Water Conservation, Department of Natural Resources, 4-H, Agricultural Extension, private practice, others.
- Keep records of natural occurrences ("Phenology"): blooming of flowers, arrival of birds and insects, rainfall, high and low temperatures.
- Create environmental programs for all program areas.
- Have an award for great environmental ideas submitted by members or staff.
- Check with others before you get in the car, combine trips.
- Pick litter up in the parking lot and grounds.
- Get some washable dishes and cups.
- Order the right amount of food.
- Use curtains or blinds on windows to reduce heat loss in the winter months, and also to keep the building cool during the summer months by reducing sun infiltration.
- Put identification signs by some of the trees around your camp.
- Add trees and shrubs around your buildings to help shade and insulate them.
- Set computers and office machines to save energy.
- Participate in local clean-up projects, like Adopt-A-Highway, park or stream cleaning.
- Be aware of environmental issues, provide information to campers, and act like a concerned citizen.
- Hold an event on Earth Day.
- Ride your bike to work.
- Put up a bike rack for people.
- Check your cleaning chemicals – are they friendly?
- Check your air conditioner for leaks.
- Wrap water pipes in insulation.
- Try installing a waterless urinal or a composting toilet. (They get better all the time!)
- Put up an energy demonstration area, where a solar panel, wind, or water mill powers something.
- Put out weather instruments; thermometer, barometer, rain gauge, etc.
- Have an area of camp that is kept free of human impact, put a sign by it that says, "Wilderness Island."
- Train staff to make use of natural teachable moments.
- Have a food waste monitoring program.
- Use less packaging in food served.
- Remind campers that the trails of your camp are special, even hallowed. Add this to closing campfire.
- Show campers the big dipper.
- Tell campfire stories like Where the Red Fern Grows, or My Side of the Mountain, or To Light a Fire.
- Check all staff attitudes. Be positive about the weather, the raccoons, even the bugs.
- Ask counselors, when walking back to cabins after the meal, to stop and show campers three fascinating leaves.
- Have some field guides available for borrowing. Encourage people to learn a few local plant and animal names this summer.
- At the lunch table ask campers and staff, "Did anyone see any interesting wildlife lately?"
- Note the differences in how leaves grow on various tree stems and plant stems. What does alternate and opposite mean?
- Set up a tracking station where you leave some food scraps out by some moist sand. Check it out tomorrow morning!
- Put up a "bud burst" poster. Keep track of when flowers and tree buds open.
- Have a "nature fact for the day."
- Put up a blank poster where campers can write up their nature discoveries.
- Have a "a hands-on discoveries" table for shells, antlers, fungi, etc.
- Make a Mud Pit area.
- Go romp and stomp in the swamp.
- Play in the sand! Build sand castles, make human and animal footprints, look for sand wildlife and plants, make sand angels.
- Cut up and sand a section of a large deceased local tree. Make a time line from the tree rings.
- Put up posters about nature from state, national, and local parks and nature centers.
- Have nature art work up around camp.
- Put up a sundial and a windmill and a water wheel.
- Have a festival for the full moon, equinox, and just because.
- Give an award to the camper who noticed something awesome in nature.
- Wear grass, leaves, and wild flowers in your hat and pockets.
