Education On A Green Path
As somebody new in handling Environmental Science for an International School, the fear of being tagged as inept on the subject pushed me to rummage for the ‘latest’ reference in our friendly librarian’s counter. In the pile of books where she led me, was a softbound one, atypically large for a College textbook, still tied in straw and obviously in the process of ordering approval. It was thick with gray pages in newsprint and with words “for sale in the Philippines only” adorning the cover with intention. Like a child eager to gobble its first Nursery book, I swooned over the pages quick when in minutes I realized that the dampness I felt in my palms was incomparable to the appalling revelation I have yet to LEARN. It was right at that instance that I have realized that we as accidental creatures of this Earth has treated it with so much indifference that we are starting to sense our karmic retributions.
Earth is dying and it is dying fast. To reckon would be an easy thing to say. But then how would be a challenge.
The story of the derelict Easter Island -of how a luscious abundant, self-providing rich land was left barren forever might be just, as the author G. Tyler Miller Jr. would say, a tiny version of what is to be a bigger picture - the Earth. We have been witnesses to existing climate change but how presumptuous of us to just admittingly say “Ah, this is the effect of Global Warming”. We hear news of famine striking and floods gushing alternately around the world and we point out the unprecedented deforestation as the cause. We know that the surmounting problems of garbage disposals are laid right before our very eyes and we just uncaringly utter, “Let the politicians worry about that”. Think again. There is hope that we could resolve some of these problems and become vectors of change –be it in our own little and peculiar way.
Go Green!
Earth is dying and it is dying fast. To reckon would be an easy thing to say. But then how would be a challenge.
The story of the derelict Easter Island -of how a luscious abundant, self-providing rich land was left barren forever might be just, as the author G. Tyler Miller Jr. would say, a tiny version of what is to be a bigger picture - the Earth. We have been witnesses to existing climate change but how presumptuous of us to just admittingly say “Ah, this is the effect of Global Warming”. We hear news of famine striking and floods gushing alternately around the world and we point out the unprecedented deforestation as the cause. We know that the surmounting problems of garbage disposals are laid right before our very eyes and we just uncaringly utter, “Let the politicians worry about that”. Think again. There is hope that we could resolve some of these problems and become vectors of change –be it in our own little and peculiar way.
Go Green!
As an educator, we have been bounded with the idea that TEACHING is nothing without LEARNING. We were made to realize that it is not easy to be the Socrates of these times. Bloom has pushed us to make our learners reach the levels of higher order thinking skills and that mere KNOWLEDGE is useless without Analysis (or for whatever level we seek to achieve). For what then are we called teachers for if not to be the proponents of CHANGE. We should outlive our labels as “those who cannot”. That’s not we’re good at only. Then, does joining civic actions like “Tree-planting” alter everything as “doers” now? Perhaps, I could say.
I deem a number of would-be-of-help ideas for other teachers to reconsider. Some of it, I have been practicing for many years now. One is through the ingenious dissemination of information to students. A teacher of any subject, should relate Environmental Awareness in his lessons. It is not possible for an Algebra class, while grueling over an XY graph, to make an exponential picture on the rate of biodiversity loss. It’s just around 50 to 80,000 species a year anyway. Use figures that EXISTS, there is too much abstractions in Math problems already. Or let a class in Economics tackle the topic on depletion of non-renewable resources and leave the students mouth agape over the fact that it takes another century to regenerate them. Maybe easier for us language teachers to gargle an exposé on global trade of wildlife happening in the streets of Thailand or even locally. Or make the need for biofuel shift a topic for debate. A classroom discovery on biomimicry is still a young science to let student unveil its wonders. Make students realize in Psychology and Sociology class, for instance, that every species lost can have a major impact on the ecosystem and eventually would affect MAN. Using this as an activity can even raise their reasoning power and develop critical thinking skills. Keep a journal of your daily green activity. Put up a big picture of the Earth in your rooms and ask your students, at the start of the class, what they have done good for the day in behalf of Mother Earth. It would be an ideal but unconsciously planting of environmental awareness to them in whatever nature it would be.
As a member of the community, start boasting to your curious neighbors of how your ‘compost piling’ relatively eased up your garbage disposal. Educate them, start a friendly opener of “do you know that these biodegradable mass not only…?”. You may never know what this little chitchat could do. Check on your own family’s water consumption, your electric bills… Are they on the ‘normal range’ for your corresponding family size? Being able to pay it is not the end all. There is more to living a ‘sustainable’ life than just by being able to afford. Tell your students that aiming for a rich and luxurious lifestyle is not an ‘earthly’ goal. It’s only for them not for the planet they owe everything to. Tell them that every time they use the stairs, or walk instead of riding a ‘belching’ tricycle, that they are helping build a healthier society, a healthier planet. There are natural shifts we can take and not the sarcastic side of it.
The Earth it seem, is the loneliest place ever in this universe.
Go green. Be educated. Practice.
I deem a number of would-be-of-help ideas for other teachers to reconsider. Some of it, I have been practicing for many years now. One is through the ingenious dissemination of information to students. A teacher of any subject, should relate Environmental Awareness in his lessons. It is not possible for an Algebra class, while grueling over an XY graph, to make an exponential picture on the rate of biodiversity loss. It’s just around 50 to 80,000 species a year anyway. Use figures that EXISTS, there is too much abstractions in Math problems already. Or let a class in Economics tackle the topic on depletion of non-renewable resources and leave the students mouth agape over the fact that it takes another century to regenerate them. Maybe easier for us language teachers to gargle an exposé on global trade of wildlife happening in the streets of Thailand or even locally. Or make the need for biofuel shift a topic for debate. A classroom discovery on biomimicry is still a young science to let student unveil its wonders. Make students realize in Psychology and Sociology class, for instance, that every species lost can have a major impact on the ecosystem and eventually would affect MAN. Using this as an activity can even raise their reasoning power and develop critical thinking skills. Keep a journal of your daily green activity. Put up a big picture of the Earth in your rooms and ask your students, at the start of the class, what they have done good for the day in behalf of Mother Earth. It would be an ideal but unconsciously planting of environmental awareness to them in whatever nature it would be.
As a member of the community, start boasting to your curious neighbors of how your ‘compost piling’ relatively eased up your garbage disposal. Educate them, start a friendly opener of “do you know that these biodegradable mass not only…?”. You may never know what this little chitchat could do. Check on your own family’s water consumption, your electric bills… Are they on the ‘normal range’ for your corresponding family size? Being able to pay it is not the end all. There is more to living a ‘sustainable’ life than just by being able to afford. Tell your students that aiming for a rich and luxurious lifestyle is not an ‘earthly’ goal. It’s only for them not for the planet they owe everything to. Tell them that every time they use the stairs, or walk instead of riding a ‘belching’ tricycle, that they are helping build a healthier society, a healthier planet. There are natural shifts we can take and not the sarcastic side of it.
The Earth it seem, is the loneliest place ever in this universe.
Go green. Be educated. Practice.
Comments