World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Center for a New American Dream (New Dream) are helping young people explore the connections between their shopping choices and the environment with the Be, Live, Buy Different—Make a Difference campaign.

As part of the program, we’ve developed a variety of tools and materials to help youth learn about the connections and take actions that make a difference. Along with all the other information on ibuydifferent.org, you’ll find other resources and tips to use with your youth group, classroom, or even your family.

Be, Live, Buy Different Highlights:

Smart Consumers: An Educator's Guide to Exploring Consumer Issues and the Environment is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary guide that helps middle school students learn more about how their consumer choices affect the environment and how they can make a difference by buying differently. The toolkit includes an Educator's Guide with background information; fourteen hands-on and creative activities that range from analyzing pop song lyrics and advertisements to acting out product life cycles and calculating ecological footprints; an annotated list of resources for more information; and more. The toolkit also includes a Community Action Guide, with 25 consumer-related project ideas and step-by-step advice on organizing group projects, and a colorful 2-sided Your Stuff, Your Planet poster. Smart Consumers is currently available through New American Dream .

Download two preview activities here:
Aisle Hopping, PDF (1.2 MB)
Read a fictional dialogue between two friends deciding what breakfast cereal to buy and evaluate some of the things that are important to people when they shop, use a cost-benefit analysis to evaluate alternative choices in foods, and play a simulation game to find out how people’s purchasing decisions change as they learn more about products.

Car Quest, PDF (716 KB)
Assess the environmental impacts of a fleet of cars and then research and prepare a report about greener transportation choices.

Also check out:
The Community Action Guide includes 25 consumer-related project ideas and some step-by-step advice on organizing group projects to make a difference in your community. Free in PDF format.

The Buy Different Action Center provides visitors with an opportunity to register four simple actions to calculate exactly how many resources they personally saved and the collective impact of everyone taking action.