Sunday is Earth Day, and a majority of moms surveyed by BabyCenter said they are taking steps to set an environmentally friendly example in the home by recycling, using energy efficient appliances and buying “green” products. About 56 percent of the moms polled said pregnancy and motherhood awakened their inner environmentalist.

That’s why today’s Questions & Parents feature, Q&P for short, is with a Chappaqua mom whose mission is improving environmental education in schools. Patti Bressman is on the board of the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation, a Chappaqua nonprofit that promotes sustainable living as a core curriculum subject for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Patti is also mom to 17-year-old Max and twin 13-year-olds, Josh and Noah.

Q: How has becoming a parent shaped your views about the environment and recycling?

P: As a new parent, your initial inclination is to acquire lots of new “stuff,” from clothes to toys to strollers, high chairs and furniture. You don’t usually think about what materials go into the products, where the products were made or how they will it be disposed of. Very soon you’re replacing these short-term purchases with other new purchases as the child outgrows them, usually long before their useful lives are expended. As my awareness and understanding of the impact of such purchases has grown over the years, I’ve become a more environmentally and health-conscious consumer. (Do you really want endocrine disrupters and toxins in your children’s bath toys? Or your daughter’s makeup?) As I’ve come to learn that there is no “away” (that old dehumidifier doesn’t just disappear after the curbside pick-up), I’ve tried to become more sustainable with my purchasing and disposal habits. Part of this new behavior means making sure to buy items with the most recycled and non-toxic content and being sure to recycle, donate, hand-down and share wherever possible. Looking for locally grown and manufactured items is also part of this effort. Looking at the Earth as our home, not just the environment we exist in, helps us think about whether we really need to pile up all these items in the Earth’s “attics and basements.”

Q: Can you explain the sustainability education that the Children’s Environmental Literacy Foundation promotes?

P: Sustainability education integrates learning about the environment, the economy and social justice. It enables people to develop the knowledge, values and skills to participate in decisions about the way we do things individually and collectively, both locally and globally, that will improve the quality of life now without damaging the planet for the future.

Q: What is our role as parents in teaching children about the environment?

P: First of all, children see their parents own behavior as an example to follow. So being a good role model from an early age is most influential. Of course this is true for any parental behavior, but children who see their parents’ disregard for the environment are fighting an uphill battle from the start. Fostering children’s innate interest and curiosity about the natural world, which begins long before school age, is also important to encourage their connection to the world around them. Very young children can learn to understand nature’s systems and apply their innate systems thinking to the manufactured world. Imagine a world in which second-graders, who understand that in nature there is no waste, have an influence on product designers who are creating their toys.

Q: How do you teach children about the peril the Earth is in without frightening them? The idea of a hole in the ozone might sound scary to a child.

P: These scary messages are already everywhere in the media daily. By helping children better understand the perils as best they can for their age and giving them positive actions to help them feel part of the solution, we are empowering our children to be good citizens, good neighbors (both locally and globally), and good role models. Children can understand limitations at a very young age. If we teach them that the Earth is also governed by limitations, and that we all have to be responsible to heed these limitations, then we’re putting the subject before them in an age-appropriate, constructive manner.

Q: As a mom, how do you teach your children about your environmental values?

P: I try to introduce and discuss concepts such as reducing waste and recycling, resource limitations, energy conservation and alternative energy, and climate change wherever possible. Given my work, my children are probably very tired of hearing me talk about these subjects so much. But I do take pride in the fact that they will now point out to me some of the good choices that can easily (or not so easily) be made to improve the world and the crisis we are in. My children are all very interested in the sciences, so I will often use this interest to introduce environmental values through fun and topical venues. I try to look for shows, books, or news stories on related subjects that show positive measures and encouraging ways to make a difference. Finding inspirational biographies of scientists or inventors also is a fun way to breach the subject without being too obvious! I also charge my children 25 cents for each light bulb left on, and still make them get up to come turn it off. This may not seem like a lot, but with young kids, if they have to contribute a quarter three, four or fives times a day, then their pockets begin to relate with what the Earth is experiencing — a shortage in resources!

Q: What are some activities parents can do with their kids?

P: Parents might want to try building a solar powered model car to learn about alternative energy or taking a green building tour or visiting a falconry demonstration where they will learn about habitat protection and biodiversity. Parents of elementary school children can read and discuss books that help children see they are an integral part of the natural world. Middle and high school children can find more advanced, yet fun books on related topics. One easy-reading book that our organization, CELF, highly recommends to students in this age range is called “Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things,” by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein. Children (and adults) can read about the product lifecycle of their favorite items — sneakers, computers, etc. — while learning the economic, environmental and societal impacts of their purchases. And middle and high school students and their families are all invited to attend our “Students for a Sustainable Future EXPO” this Thursday, April 26, at Pace University in Pleasantville. The goal of the EXPO is to ignite interest in the study and eventual pursuit of fields that support sustainable development, with exhibits ranging from examples in engineering and design, alternative energy and environmental consulting, socially responsible investing, public policy and law, and much more.

Thanks very much to Patti for sharing her knowledge by doing a Q&P! Check back next Friday for another Q&P. If you know any parents who you think would be great to feature, please comment here on the blog or send me an e-mail at jalterio@lohud.com.