Eco-Interns: Can Environmentally-Conscious Kids Help Your Business Grow?

I read a very interesting article from the New York Times today – apparently, the youngest generation is increasingly more interested in the environment than their parents.

In a world where many soccer moms still drive vans and SUVs, their children are talking about hybrids and smaller cars. It is now the five-year-old who turns off the light after a parent who has left the room or advocates shutting off the water while brushing your teeth. Kids are learning a lot about the environmental problems we’re facing…and that’s a good thing!

How can children help your business?

As a business owner, you can definitely take advantage of this willingness to support the environment that we’re seeing from children. If you have a son/daughter/grandchild/neighbor/etc. interested in saving the earth, bring them to work with you as an eco-intern!

Now, take your child to work day doesn’t officially happen until April (read more here), but an annual outing to participate in the working world can happen any time of the year. If you work in a business that isn’t particularly child-friendly, getting involved him or her involved in a “go green” way is a great idea.

In addition to helping you complete tasks like decorating office recycle bins, ask your eco-intern to help you spot environmental no-nos in your office. I bet he or she will notice that the conference room light is on all of the time, even when no one is using the conference room or that employees print documents that they don’t really need. Small day-to-day stuff that you’d never notice will set off alarms with an environmentally-friendly child.

If your business is already doing a lot to go green, consider inviting a local grade-school class to your office (or place/facility, if it is safe, depending on your industry) to talk about how you’re going green. Promoting your green products to children – even if they aren’t child-friendly products in and of themselves – is a great way to start a word-of-mouth campaign.

I know that the “pint-size eco-police” can be a pain sometimes, especially when they don’t have their facts 100% straight, but you have to give them credit for trying. If you know a child who loves to drive you crazy with efforts to make you go green, harness that power and bring him/her to work. Your business can only benefit.