Happy Earth Day! While it is a shame that every day isn’t Earth day – as really, we should be aware of the earth and our impact on it everyday – today, let us wrap ourselves in the green, organic, recyclable blanket that is Earth Day.
Earth Day: A day’s observance of the need to protect the Earth’s environment.
This year is the 46th year of earth day celebrations since they began in 1970. Since then environmentalism has moved beyond the tree hugging stigmas of the 1960s and 70s and into a trendy, celebrity filled movement that everyone can and should be a part of. While we have made some strides in those 46 years, the work is far from done. 2015 was recorded as the warmest year in history, and warm in this case is not good. While a popular topic, there is often a lot of talk around environmentalism with a disproportionate amount of action to go with it.
Thanda has joined on the band wagon to take action. We operate 100% green and sustainable structures.
A key element of our after-school programmes is “Care for the Environment”. We have dedicated an entire pillar of our curriculum to making sure we get this right – that these kids grow up knowing all they can about the world around them and more importantly, their impact on it. This is why we call it “Care for the Environment” not Environmentalism. It is not a philosophy. It is an action.
Within our programmes, our learners do a variety of activities to learn about the environment. They go down to the river to look for tadpoles and fossils. They collect spiders to learn about their role in nature. They play with Shady, one of the site’s dogs to learn about respecting animals. They watch the movie Avatar to view another example of human’s exploitation and depletion of earth’s resources and its consequences.
Most importantly they learn and discuss how environmental abuse is the same as all abuse cycles. New behavior will only come from self-esteem, feeling significant and having role models and positive alternatives. An important component in this is empathy. Empathy may not be studied in most science classes, but it is essential as we look at teaching kids to respect the environment. How can you expect a child to respect nature and understand the effect they have on it, without empathy? Our kids are learning empathy throughout the year and that translates within these lessons. Additionally, they see first hand how they contribute to Thanda’s environmental efforts in our bio-fuel cycle.
The kids also read a variety of books that discuss human’s relationship with nature, such as The Lorax and The Giving Tree.
The Lorax especially is an excellent teaching tool about not just the impact human’s have, but the responsibility we have to keep our planet going. As he so wisely says, “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better it’s not”.
And that is what Earth Day is all about.
Start caring a whole awful lot, because otherwise there may not be a planet to care for much longer. As the Native American proverb goes, “Treat the earth well. We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”. Make sure it is just as nice, if not better, for them.
