In order to build a sustainable world, the natural first step is to cultivate a love for the environment and caring for it at a young age. Though children get educated on simple scientific principles—ecosystems, the water cycle, properties of matter—they don’t really seem to be receiving encouragement to take care of the earth. If we start teaching kids as young as elementary school how to be sustainable, there’ll be a generation of children eager to learn about sustainability and ready to tackle the massive ecological issues we’re currently facing.
Children mimic adults all the time—it’s why we have to watch our language around them and make sure they don’t watch violent movies. But a great way to encourage children to live sustainably is by making sure we as adults are practicing environmentally-safe actions. Using reusable grocery bags when shopping with a child, having a compost bin at home, and gardening are all simple ways of making sure a child is able to witness sustainability in action. It can also open up for some great conversations about why sustainable actions are good for the earth and why the earth needs us to be more mindful.
There are tons of lesson plans available for teachers to use when discussing the environment. Small children are the best scientists—they want to know as much as they can and ask questions that would blow your mind. Lessons such as calculating a carbon footprint or learning how we could use solar/wind power to fuel our world could be very beneficial to getting kids thinking about these broad subjects while they’re still eager to learn.
Schools can start community gardens to help get the children outside and working towards sustainable eating practices. Plus, children get very excited over being able to say that they grew something themselves!
There are so many cool ways to reach children to teach them how to live sustainably. Not only are we not teaching kids, we’re barely encouraging students at higher levels of education or adults. Sustainability does not have to be onerous, but currently we make it so inaccessible within the education system. It can be easy and exciting, but only if adults and educators are willing to put forth the education to make it easy and exciting.
-Cammi Stilwell