Kids Hope for the Darndest Things, Part I

By Adam Eisman, GREENandSAVE.com
Posted on Sunday 22nd February 2009

GREENandSAVE has partnered with the St. Norbert School in Paoli in order to better educate their students with an Eco-Curriculum about the environmental challenges we face as a nation, and as a global community. The Eco-Curriculum is a multi-faceted lesson plan that helps students to understand what sustainability really means. It attempts to make the children think about the things they do every day by keeping a journal of their plastic bottle consumption, how many miles their parent's cars have driven in a week, as well as how much energy they are wasting when they leave televisions, stereos and lights on at home.

In addition to the classroom component and the Green Journal, the younger students were tasked with making a short three-page pamphlet that would include a page on each of the following topics: Things Harmful to the Environment, Things Helpful to the Environment, and Green Inventions that would help us all become more sustainable.

This is the first of a three-part series, in which the student's ideas on environmental sustainability will be presented. It is always interesting to see what the world looks like through the eyes of 2nd grader…

The one thing that was featured on more lists than anything else was cars. Whether they were Sport Utility Vehicles, Sedans, Motorcycles or Tractor Trailers, it seems that children have associated any car now on the road with damage to the environment. It is reassuring to see that some attempts to minimize the connection between CO2 emissions and climate change have failed in the perception of the next generation.

The next biggest threat to the environment seems to be pollution of any kind. Some kids have it coming out of cars, others have it coming from factories and litter on the side of the road. The most philosophical take on pollution is offered by one student who slipped "Pollution is Everywhere" in between two cars and an old vacuum cleaner.

Another general category that popped up on just about every submission was electronics. From iPhones to plasma TVs, and from Christmas tree lights to electric ice cream scoopers, kids think that if it needs to be plugged in, it's probably harmful to the environment in some way. (Which would explain all the battery love, but we'll get to that in Inventions.)

The last qualitative category one might gleam from the collection is water usage. Many students had pictures of sprinklers and fountains that expel water for large periods of time, but many others had pictures of streams, rivers, lakes and water treatment plants that asked for the quality of water to be looked after as well.

Miscellaneous items that should be noted include satellite dishes, makeup, cities with no greenery, deforestation, and the obligatory polar bear struggling on some melting ice. But, the FoxNews Award for fear mongering goes to the pamphlet that features rows and rows of cars, two separate foreclosed homes, a team of scary scientists in Hazardous Material Jumpsuits, an individual of what appears to be Middle Eastern descent in fatigues while praying, an army brigade of some sort firing their weapons, and lastly, the low-fat butter rack at the Supermarket. Believe me, low-fat butter substitutes keep me awake at night too, I just didn't have any idea my pain was shared. Look for the newest line of toast and bagel spread coming out soon, "I Can't Believe it's Not Jihad."

Be sure to stay tuned for the next round of Kids Hope for the Darndest Things, as well be going over those items children feel are sustainable. Until then…don't you go changing.

GREENandSAVE.com is a free resource for anyone that wants to save energy, money, and the environment. The articles, product reviews, online tools, and return on investment calculations are researched from a diverse range of public and private sector sources. Overall, the company is passionate about saving money as well as creating healthy homes, offices, and lifestyles.

To find out what we think might be harmful or helpful to the environment, be sure to check out GREENandSAVE.com, where you can find tips and suggestions for any Green Home Remodeling Project. And if these kids have made you rethink how you want to live your life, take a look at the Green Lifestyle section.

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