Living Well, Living Green: Talking to Kids about Global Warming

My kids and I love the Magic School Bus books. There's something about Ms. Frizzle and her crazy hair and the way she just doesn't take no for an answer--she just pops her kids and their class pet, Liz the lizard, on that weird old Deadhead bus and away they go

The Tween is a little jaded for picture books, but Magic School Bus is perfect for the girls: The Barnacle can look at the pictures and listen to the main story, while my nine-year-old can read the "hand-written" reports by kids in the MSB class that are included at the sides of the pages.

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge is right on point: It lays out the problem of global warming as the kids travel around the world on their crazy chameleon of a vehicle with "water-cooler""facts that readers get, quick:

• With more hot days and fewer cold days than before, global warming means the average temperature of the Earth is rising.


• Gases that trap heat include water vapors, carbon dioxide and methane.


• Each American makes about 44,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year--the same as eight hippos. (Hippos!)


• By conserving our energy and resources, and using alternative energy sources like wind, solar and biofuels, the goal is that by 2050 we can reduce each person's output to that of one hippo.


• Conservation means avoiding waste by doing things like recycling: Making cans from recycled aluminum takes 30% less energy than making them from new.

Now you don't have to buy the book, which hit stores this year. But you should. Their story is so much cuter than this one.

Savings.com Green Guru Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff is a writer, producer and marketing consultant who focuses on sustainable fashion, beauty, lifestyle and parenting--and the creator of EcoStiletto.com, an online magazine which explains, in real-girl terms, how eco-friendly choices can help turn your carbon footprint from a ginormous Ugg into an oh-so-slender Manolo.