In the middle of the recession it seems that for the average person going green is suffering. To save money some people are going back to non-green ways. To the average American household helping the environment is a luxury not a need. Home owners are holding on insulting their home and buying whatever is cheaper not what is helping to save the environment. Yet for teens their are ways to actually make money going green.
Most homes have bookcases filled with books, or will at least have a few school books in the basement. If the household has more than one child there are probably multiple copies of Lord of the Flies and Catcher and the Rye. They sit their collecting dust so recycle them or better yet, sell them. Instead of throwing them out or just putting in the blue bin go to a used bookstore. Stop and Swap bookstore in Westvale Plaza will take paperbacks of all sorts and give you 15 to 20% of the cover price. So if you have a new paperback that cost 8.95 you would get 1.70 towards your next purchase there. Books 4 Less also will buy books (both hardcover and paperback). The price varies and you have to schedule by appointment. Amazon.com is also another great place to buy books the only hard part for teens is that you need a credit card and shipping can be expensive plus if the book is shipping from California or Florida it’s probably using more carbon dioxide then if you drove to a local bookstore. Although with books you certainly won’t make the list price your still making more money than if it was sitting on a shelf. Also buying used books will help.
Most teens drink soda and lots of it. So save the cans and get the deposit back. 20 cans will give you a dollar. Although it doesn’t seem like much it really does add up. You can take that extra money from those bottles that will get recycled and use to money to buy eco-friendly products that are usually more expensive or save the money for college. Or give the money to a local charity. Westhills Cross Country team does a bottle drive Saturdays during the fall.
Walk! With bus fares going up and gas getting more expensive again. Teens can walk more to save money. Although for some teens especially ones who live in the suburbs it’s not possible to walk places and bus transportation is few and far between so carpool. Get a few friends together and go to the mall in one car. Or if you don’t want to pay a lot of money go to a local or state park. Green Lakes has both biking trails and a swimming section amongst other things. Swimming and biking is free expect for the 6 dollar parking fee. But if you have 4 people in the car that’s only 2 dollars per person. It’s also healthy. Swimming burns about 118 calories per half an hour.
Also if you want to be healthy on a budget instead of using a gym membership (planet fitness does have a 10 dollar a month plan but you have to be 17 or older or accompanied by an adult) running is a great way to stay in shape cheaply. You can go running by just stepping out your door and it burns a ridiculous amount of calories.
Although schools out and not one teen wants to think about going back to school shopping. I would skip the “green” paper products in this recession they’re expensive and sometimes don’t look too sturdy. Instead just remember to recycle your school papers (even if you want to burn all the homework you did for the year).
Instead of going to the movies stay home and rent one. It’s cheaper and sometimes better because you don’t have to wait in line and avoid the mall red coats who hassle you at the door even if you are going to the movies. Maybe bake cookies instead of buying popcorn, cookies cost significantly cheaper than the popcorn that just went up in price again! Also if you going to rent a movie pick up your pizza while you’re at it. You don’t have to tip the devilry guy and some pizza shops charge for devilry. Also its faster a Friday night at twin trees devilry will take up to 45 minutes as opposed to pickup which takes half an hour. If you really want to go green skip the pizza shop altogether and make your own. Put pizza sauce dough and cheese on the grochary list for the week.
There are many ways to go green cheaply. Saving money is vital not only for this economany but also for all teens.

Normal night out for teen
Dinner at the mall 10.00
Movie ticket 9.50
Popcorn split between 4 people 2.00
Soda at the movies 7.00
Candy 2.00
Gas to the mall 2.00
Total: 32.50

Green Teen Day
Sells books 5.00
Picks up bottles around the house and returns them 3.00
Drive to green lakes with 4 people 2.00
Makes cookies 3.00
2 Pizzas bought at Checkers split between 4 people 4.75
Movie rental split between 4 people 1.24
Gas 2.00
Total: 4.99(with the money made from the bottles and books deducted)
Savings: 27.51