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Here at Raising Rippers, we’re trying to be a little less digital and a little more analog-conscious this year, so it was with some trepidation that we stumbled upon , an eco-blog written by a nine-year-old Canadian girl named Hannah Alper. Since launching her site last June, the fourth-grader from Toronto has racked up more than 100,000 pageviews and been called the future of social media.

But when you’re nine and fielding interview requests and making appearances on national TV, how do you find time for old-fashioned kid stuff? “I do karate and I still play with my frriends and go for bike rides when it's nice outside,” says Hannah, who must have some mad time-management skills because she also does homework, organizes penny drives at school—the last one raised 97,500 pennies, enough to give 39 children clean water for life—and writes two posts a week (her parents OKed the idea on the condition that they vet and edit each post before it goes live).

Her latest: New Year's resolutions for being greener at home. Hannah may already have some pretty big expectations to live up to, but this post is filled with lots of simple, practical ideas for creating positive change in 2013. “Every little thing that we each do will add up to make a huge difference in the world,” says Hannah, who wants to be an activist when she grows up. Try these yourself, and share them with your kids.

—Katie Arnold

I Can Be More Eco-Friendly in 2013. You Can Too.

1. RECYCLING ALL AROUND THE HOUSE
Other than the kitchen, we have the most garbage in the bathroom. There’s so much stuff that we throw out in the bathroom that is not garbage at all. None of these things is garbage and should be disposed of in an eco way: hair (green bin), toothpaste/soapboxes (blue bin), cotton balls (green bin), toilet paper rolls (blue bin), tissue (green bin), empty cans and bottles (blue bin).

There’s an easy and simple way to turn your bathroom garbage can into a recycling center. To do that you need a big bin and get three smaller containers to fit into the big one. Then label them green bin, recycling bin, and garbage. This makes it really clear and simple.

2. NOT EVERYTHING YOU THROW OUT IS GARBAGE
Everyone knows that paper goes in the blue bin and so do cans, newspaper, other paper goods, but not a lot of people know that batteries, styrofoam, ink and toner cartridges, and electronics can also be recycled. In every city there is somewhere where you can take all those stuff to recycle them! Recycle things that are unwanted, things that don’t work, Recycle it!

If you have old toys, clothes that don’t fit anymore. Books that you don’t want, donate them! Maybe you don't need things but someone else does! I have donated to a couple of charities, I donated baby blankets and towels to the vet to make the pets more comfortable.

Stuffed toys are not accepted by most donation places because they say that they are full of germs. I found a great solution to this and I donated a huge box of my stuffed animals to the humane society. I was happy to give them all the dogs there something to play and sleep with.

3. CREATE A RECYCLING CENTER
There are so many things that need to be recycled that can’t go in the recycling bin. Things like: batteries, styrofoam, small electronics, clothing, books, and toys. Find a space in your garage to make a recycling center with bins that are labeled for each. When the bin is full, take it to the depot in your community for proper and safe disposal.

4. MAKE ECO CHOICES WHEN PURCHASING YOUR SCHOOL AND WORK SUPPLIES
There are a lot of products that are eco-friendly for school and work. You can buy recycled notebooks, biodegradeable pens and pencils, pencil cases made from recycled water bottles. When you are shopping look for the recycled symbol—the triangle made for the 3 r’s—and make an ‘eco’ choice.

5. SHARE WHAT YOU ARE DOING TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT. INSPIRE PEOPLE TO JOIN YOU.
Tell your family, friends, neighbors, and teachers what you are doing and they might be inspired to join you. Then they might pass it on and then those people will pass it on and it will keep going. This is how we can all make a difference.

—Hannah Alper

Reposted with permission from callmehannnah.ca.