Encouraging Children to Tackle Climate Change (U.S.A.)

Jan 22nd 2008
Tags: Uncategorized

Kids ranked the environment as one of their top issues in the upcoming presidential elections, according to a recent Scholastic News online poll. A fun, educational website, ACT GREEN!, at http://www.scholastic.com/actgreen is designed to motivate and empower kids to take action in school, at home, and in their community to preserve the environment was launched by Scholastic. Customized green plans, expert tips, inspiring green short films provided by Live Earth, and a “Greenroom” to share ideas with other kids is provided on this multi-media website for kids, parents, and teachers.

An environmental scientist from the University of California at Berkeley was consulted in the development of this webpage to help the site’s visitors (kids) preserve the environment. The Green Quiz, which is where the kids are first directed, has been provided to learn how environmentally conscious they are. After completing the quiz, the kids will see a customized Green Plan and be automatically entered into the Greenerator(TM) to activate their Green Plan for putting it into action. Green points that power up the Greenerator are earned as the kids check off the green action items they have accomplished. In addition, green points may be earned throughout the site by accomplishing the action items from the “100 Ways to Act Green!” list, reading articles, sending e-cards and more. The overall power of the Greenerator will be enjoyed by the kids tracking their own green points, as well as those generated by other Act Green! members.

“Kids are concerned about climate change, and they are motivated to learn that the changes they make now could greatly impact the future of our planet,” stated Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic. “Engaging kids around the issue of climate change is a great opportunity for kids, parents, and teachers to learn and act green together. By educating and engaging kids early on, they are more likely to grow up to be better informed citizens and more willing to get involved and make a difference.”

In addition to the Green Actions, kids can watch a selection of short films, commissioned by Live Earth (http://www.liveearth.org) as part of the July 7th concerts staged on every continent, featuring 150 of the world’s greatest artists to raise awareness for the climate crisis. The collection of Live Earth films demonstrate solutions while encouraging a dialogue around global warming. Kids can also download fun and useful ACT GREEN! tools including appliance tags, green door-hangers and stickers to help motivate their family and friends to get in on the “act.” Downloadable appliance tags include a microwave tag that says, “I am a Green Machine,” a thermostat tag that says, “Saving the world. One degree at a time,” and an “Unplug Me” tag kids can attach to electrical outlets throughout their house or school. Each tag includes a short explanation of how environmentally appropriate the appliance is, and how to make it more green.

Kids can also download green door-hangers and stickers that say, “This is a Green Home,” “Recycle Me,” and “Turn Me Off,” among others. Kids can spread the ACT GREEN! message by sending fun e-cards and Green Actions, and chatting with friends about their green activities in the Greenroom.

“Climate change presents a huge challenge to our global society because the solutions are beyond the scale of individual action,” stated Mark Spencer, an environmental scientist from the University of California at Berkeley. “The Scholastic ACT GREEN! website provides kids and their families with the opportunity to contribute to the solution in a way that shows the collective effect of their actions and the actions of kids across the country. One child’s actions are just a blip in the global carbon budget, but one thousand kids riding their bikes, one million families lowering their thermostat, are actions that register. The ACT GREEN! website creates the framework for a community of kids to inspire each other, build on their successes, and make a meaningful contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

Teachers and parents can access ACT GREEN! to learn about ways to engage their kids in green activities in school and at home. The site offers an extensive list of more than 100 action items that can be easily implemented in a classroom or home environment, along with a selection of green-themed books. Teachers can also download a climate change classroom poster from Scholastic complete with interdisciplinary curriculum created by Facing the Future (http://www.facingthefuture.org). To help get their classroom involved, teachers can download an ACT GREEN! form to track the students’ green points and enter a sweepstakes to win a set of green-themed books for their classroom and a free online subscription to Scholastic Printables.

For more information about ACT GREEN!, please visit their webpage: http://www.scholastic.com/actgreen.

(Ed.: This is a fantastic concept to get kids, moms, and dads to take action to combat Global Warming/Climate Change (GW/CC).

Since there is such an urgent need for mankind to take action and since using this site would be at the discretion of each individual teacher or school district, perhaps the concept of GW/CC needs to be taught, fostered, and encouraged by teachers and school districts on a national scale. Maybe this could be accomplished by national educational organizations promoting…no…urging that this type of schooling be taught throughout the country. For example, educational organizations, teacher unions, school district, etc.. It would be great if all nations could install similar plans.

Remember: if allowed to go past the environmental recovery tipping point, there won’t be any do-overs!)

Source for this post: Scholastic Inc.

Webpage and websites: http://www.scholastic.com/actgreen
http://www.facingthefuture.org/
http://www.liveearth.org/
http://www.scholastic.com/