Resolution #4 Go “Off Gridding” for a weekend with your family. It’s the first real week-end of 2011. Try to get everyone on board and off the grid. See what happens by not using any resources from the “grid” or the systems that normally support your lifestyle behaviors, toys, getting around town, or keeping in touch.

Think about the following:

• What toys require power: TV, games, iPod
• How do you get places: car, bus, bike, legs
• What heats and cools things: the water, your home
• Most importantly, what does all that cost?!

Go off grid with as many as you can, and just chill at home with family and friends. All of these can be shifted towards renewable sources, in the long-term, but in the short-term, changes in behaviors can result in major savings in each category. But it YOUth ideas, good planning, strong leadership, a pinch of visionary creativity, and your passion to get started. Go for it! Once a year, a quarter or every month.

Resolution 3: Suck it up, Turn it off! Has it been snowing or raining a TON where you live, don’t get casual and send money down the drain. Reduce your family shower time and water use by 50% or more by posting reminders in the bathroom or even the shower. Teach them how to read a water bill, show them how to visualize the 2+ gallons of water per minute that pours out of the shower, and remind them that it is simple, easy and fun to stop being such a drip. The savings really add up! Set a goal – how about $150 per year off the water bill.

What do YOUth do to $ave water?

Resolution #2: Green Mom’s or Dad’s Resume! As the Chief of Sustainability at Home, it is your JOB to challenge your mom and dad to walk the talk at work, and investigate just how green their job or employer is, and where they might be able to help make quick easy improvements that are also going to rapidly improve profitability. Every parent had odd jobs as a kid, and now thousands of GMP youth have green jobs at home…

SO, how about we challenge our parents to play eco-entrepreneur at the workplace, OR if there is a sustainability team at their office, YOU should ask them why they aren’t a key player on it yet? by helping inject some Green Life into the Mom’s workstyle and Dad’s resume you could help THEIR BOSS see fast track ways to a greener, more profitable business practices like renewable energy, incentives for telecommuting, choosing sustainable Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) paper products like EarthChoice from Domtar (our awesome sponsor!)

By following YOUR LEADERSHIP at home Parents may envision a new set of skills to shifting their expertise to become part of the green economy. Wanna be a proud kid of a green parent?! we DO! Who knows, with that new bonus Mom or Dad get’s for helping their CEO boost earnings for the company this year…you may end up with a new iPAD2 (not that we have actually seen one yet, but we have heard rumors…) in your stocking next Holiday Season, and that would make just about anyone jolly!