Since I was a child, at least 17 years ago, I have heard about how to save our environment on TV. Today, when Global Warming has almost become a trend, the “how to’s” have not changed much. When for instance the news are giving advice on green living it is usually the same old advice:

• Take shorter showers
• Turn lights and other electronics off when not used
• Drive less
• Eat locally grown foods
• Bring your own grocery bags when grocery shopping (or any shopping)
• Waste less
• Recycle

These are all great advice. But don’t people already do these things? It is time to go a little further and (for some) hear some new advice.

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My sons love Bob the Builder. Before I had kids, I did not know anything about Bob the Builder other than what the name reveals. Now, I know almost every episode. If you are not familiar with Bob the Builder, it can easily be described in a few sentences.

Bob and Wendy work together and fix anything in Bobsville. They have a team of living machines who all have names, genders and personalities. It is as if the machines are children and Bob and Wendy are adults. They teach the machines right from wrong.

Of course my kids love to watch Bob the Builder for the construction work and to see the diggers and all the machines. But Bob the Builder also comes with an important message to our children. It teaches our children a better way to live, how to take care of our planet. BTB talks about pretty much everything that I want my children to learn about the environment:

• First of all, they always mention the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
• They care about the trees, and for example in one episode where they were building a new road, they built the road around the tree instead of cutting it down.
• Children learn how to waist less. When one old tree needed to be cut down, they found some use for every single part of the tree. Farmer Pickle uses everything from the sunflowers he grows: oil, seeds and even as a dye.
• The people in Sunflower Valley use different energy sources like solar power and wind power.
• Everything is organic
• They care about the animals in the forest and help them when they need it: Bob puts out water for them in the hot summer, they build safe crossings for different animals over streets.

Bob the Builder is a cartoon, but they make “green living” look so easy. Maybe Bob the Builder should be made for adults as well!