The way that you teach your kids about the environment dictates the lessons they carry into their adulthood.

When you want to lower your carbon footprint, there are some projects that can begin in your own backyard. Teaching your kids will let you also reinforce the lessons that help you take a stand for the environment.

Sustainability is an effort that helps you look out for the environment and also learn a lot about providing for yourself and going back to nature. To get started teaching your kids some core sustainable living lessons, start with the following:

1. Start A Compost Pile

If you are interested in teaching your kids about sustainability, composting is one of the best ways to go about it. If you've got any yard space, set up a compost pile that lets you enrich the soil and prevent the creation of landfill waste.

People who start compost piles are creating natural fertilizer, which is great if you have a garden or are otherwise planting flowers, trees, shrubs and any other plants. A massive 20 to 30% of waste in a landfill comes from food scraps.

You'll want to set aside some waste containers that let you scrape out foods that are biodegradable, rather than letting them clutter your waste bin. Designate a few days a week for you and your kids to spread the food out amongst the compost pile so that they can learn all about it and how this helps the planet.

They'll get to see how quickly the food decomposes and becomes enriched with the soil, providing excellent bacteria for the land and decreases landfill emissions.

2. Make Recycling A Family Effort

Recycling is yet another easy area to teach your kids about sustainability.

Rather than just dumping waste containers into recycling bins, make sure that you plan a field trip to the recycling center. This is a trip that your kids will enjoy because they'll get to see how the different machines work and how the recycled materials are processed.

Teach them the importance of lowering their carbon footprint so that even when they are out and about amongst friends, that they find recycling bins, rather than stuffing plastics and metals into the trash.

Be sure that you stay on top of the recycling days and keep your container clean and upright.

3. Teach Them About Healthy Food With A Garden

Finally, you can impart lessons about health and self-reliance, in addition to environmental consciousness, by planting a garden.

Teaching your kids where food comes from is crucial, and makes them less reliant on mass produced goods. They will be able to eat healthy and organic foods without chemicals and without contributing to the amount of travel that comes with delivering produce.

Gardening is a skill that is therapeutic as well, allowing you to teach your kids a way to relieve stress and how to fend for themselves.

Contemplate these tips so that you and your kids can embrace some sustainability efforts together.