It’s in kids’ nature to want to help animals and there are lots of ways they can make a difference. One way is by becoming an Earth Ranger and signing up to protect an animal with a Bring Back the Wild fundraising campaign. Earth Rangers is an organization dedicated to educating children and families about biodiversity and empowering them to become directly involved in protecting animals and their homes. To date, over 200,000 children are involved.
Earth Rangers continue to sign up in record numbers and now they’re asking to do even more to help animals. In response, an exciting new initiative is offered. As before, the first mission is to launch a Bring Back the Wild campaign to help an animal. Now, in addition to this action, kids will be sent additional missions they can do at home and in their communities.
The first of these missions is called Battery Blitz and challenges kids to collect and recycle as many batteries as possible.
Since batteries provide energy for so many of the things we use every day, what to do with batteries once they are dead is a big problem. When batteries are thrown out in the trash, they end up in landfills where they add to solid waste and can also leak dangerous chemicals into the environment. These chemicals are not only harmful to humans but to animals as well.
Even though there are many places where you can dispose of used batteries properly—you can’t recycle batteries in your regular recycling bin—only 5 per cent of alkaline batteries are recycled in Canada each year. In 2010, Canadians threw out 745 million household batteries! Did you know that parts from recycled batteries can be re-used to make new batteries or stainless steel products, like the pots in your kitchen?
The goal of this program is to demonstrate to children that no matter how small, every action, when adopted by many, can have a huge impact.
Kids can sign up for the Battery Blitz Mission at 
earthrangers.com/missions. The website will also allow you to find the nearest recycling station and tell Earth Rangers about your mission once you have completed the challenge.
