Guest Editor: James Russell - How to Turn our Children Green

It’s hard to remember what the world was like before we found out about climate change. For children it’s probably impossible. Yet ten or fifteen years ago Greens were still perceived as slightly crazy, unrealistic misfits – people who refused to engage in the eternal political battle between right and left, but instead wanted to send humanity back to the Dark Ages.

With Green politics rapidly becoming mainstream and the Environment high on everyone’s list of important subjects, we’re moving into new territory. The old campaigners from the 1970s are suddenly discovering that politicians and pundits are listening to them, and you can hardly pick up a newspaper or open a web page without somebody telling you how to Green up some aspect of your life. Rarely a day goes by without an alarming news story about melting ice or vanishing species. In fact the news story that doesn’t have climate change as an important component is now as rare as the Panamanian Golden Frog.

News and opinions inevitably filter from the adult world into the playground, and children are worried. A government-sponsored UK survey of primary (4-11) education last year found that kids were pessimistic about the future and concerned about everything from climate change to trade injustice. Many equated these huge issues (which they felt powerless to address) to their immediate environmental problems – traffic, bullying and so on – creating a general climate of anxiety.

This has worsened a tendency that should alarm environmentalists across the spectrum: children’s abandonment of the real world in favour of TV, the internet and fantasy fiction. A recent editorial in the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust magazine suggested that children’s lack of enthusiasm for nature (in reality, rather than on TV) did not bode well for wildlife organisations that rely both on the work of enthusiastic volunteers and donations from supporters. The people currently filling the ranks and the coffers of the RSPB and other organisations developed their passions when they were children, but if our children spend their free time at home (or in manmade playgrounds), how can they do the same?

Other factors are at work here, for instance the misguided health and safety rules that make it so hard for schools to arrange trips. My son went to a wonderful pre-school set beside a city farm, yet the kids never went to the farm during school time because to take them fifty metres required supervision at a ratio of one adult for every three children.

If children are raised in these surroundings, driven everywhere in cars and offered the easy solace of the bedroom computer, it’s no wonder they find the real world alarming. Add to this fears of climate change and you have a generation ill-equipped to face any sort of challenge, never mind the ones our kids are likely to encounter.

Yet many children want to be active and informed citizens, and thankfully they are now getting more and more opportunities to do so. The international organisation Eco-schools (www.eco-schools.org) is one that doesn’t yet have the cachet of Greenpeace, but it could prove a vital force for change. Some 40,000 schools around the world (8,000 plus in the UK) have signed up to this programme designed to help schools teach kids about a whole range of Green issues and carry out practical work.

A glance at the nine topic areas listed on the UK website (www.eco-schools.org.uk) shows that this programme goes way beyond light bulbs and composting. It is, in fact, a revolutionary exercise in consciousness-raising, covering everything from Fair Trade to Biodiversity. It insists on the importance of children leaving the classroom and experiencing the world as much as possible, emphasizes that the Environment is all around us and ours to look after, and empowers students by putting the school council rather than teaching staff at the centre of the decision-making process.

Of course schools can ignore the whole thing if they choose, but this is part of a wider movement to encourage and facilitate children’s involvement with their environment. A few years ago play workers in the city of Bath launched a Play Rangers scheme, which offered children adult supervision in local parks, encouraged adventurous play and gave lessons in outdoorsy skills. Now local authorities all over the country are launching similar schemes, and children are coming out to play.

Personally, I am less excited about the much more loudly-trumpeted Greening of children’s TV and websites. While it might be inspiring for children to see their favourite characters saving the planet, the children themselves are still staring at a screen. If we want a new generation of eco-warriors to stand up to governments and corporations in the future, they need the opportunity to fall in love with the world around them and to develop the strength and imagination to become its protectors.

James Russell is the author of How to Turn Your Parents Green
howtoturnyourparentsgreen.blogspot.com

How To Create A Energy Efficient Computer

Wanting to make your computer faster without buying a new computer? Well there are several things you can do.

The first thing and best thing is to upgrade your memory. Before buying new memory check what kind of memory is in your computer/laptop so you don’t buy the wrong memory and also check your computers manual to see what the maximum size of memory your computer can handle. If you are unsure what memory you need try asking a someone that knows about computers or try a local computer shop. There are many places you can buy memory from places like local dealers to hundreds of online places like tigerdirect and newegg or E-bay.

Next you should get the latest patches, drivers, security updates from Microsoft or if you own a mac make sure that you run software update. Also make sure that you download other drivers that were not downloaded by Microsoft or Macintosh that you may need which can be downloaded directly from the manufactures web page. Next you should remove programs that you rarely use or never use by accessing add/remove programs by going to Start>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs and also you should remove any unwanted files that are taking up unnecessary space. Next thing after downloading updates and removing unwanted items is to defrag your computer. If you have never defraged your computer in a long time it could take a few hours depending on your system and hard drive size. To accessing Defrag click Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Disk Defragmenter and choose the drive you want to defrag.

Next monitor should have the brightness on your monitor turned down all the way or down enough so you can still read what is on your monitor. If you are still using a CRT monitor you should go out and buy a Energy Star flat panel monitor and properly dispose of your CRT monitor at a nearby recycling program that takes CRT monitors (some places will take your CRT monitor for a small fee).

Also make sure that your computer is plugged into a outlet strip and make sure that you turn off the switch when not using the computer and turn it on when you do use your computer (Your computer still uses power when not turned on). Lastly if you use window 2000, XP or Vista your computer should be able to use hibernation. Hibernation makes your start up time drop dramatically and extends the hard drive life span. For more information on how to configure this XP users, Win 2000 users. For windows vista it should be already enabled by default (I’m unsure about hibernation in vista since I have never used vista).

Book Review: How To Turn Your Parents Green

How To Turn Your Parents Green is written by James Russell, illustrated by Øivind Hovland and was supplied by Charlie at Green Books.

Aimed at kids ‘from 8-80′ How To Turn Your Parents Green is a book for a future generation of eco warriors. Presenting the challenge to be green as a battle of the Greens versus the Groans (ungreen adults) the book urging children to become green by fining their parents if they’re not environmentally-friendly.

But it’s more than that, it tries to put the pester power that kids have to good use - turn it away from sweets and candy to switching off the tap and buying local food. And it does this with the help of humorous phrases and great drawings by Øivind Hovland.

Although I make the ludicrous age range for this book, I’m admittedly quite a bit older than those it’s really aimed at. So at first the phrases ‘Ghastly Global Warming’, Hellish Halogens’ and other similarly alliterate and capital lettered ones got on my nerves. But after a while I got used to it and ‘Lazy Train to Chubville’ got me smiling.

While humorous, the book is also informative and it does this cleverly by asking questions but then often making up one of the answers just to make you smile. It nicely explained what a leachate is (rubbish sludge mixed with rainwater) and other facts are presented simply and in a way that a child could easily relate to a parent.

The explanations of subjects like importing fruit from abroad or having a standby button on the TV show how ridiculous they are and that the reader shouldn’t stand for such practices. Luckily it then tells you what you can do about them and gives examples of things done in the past - such as the boy who saved the Severn Beach railway line. Practical examples, goals and checklists make it almost an activity book and even inspired me to do more.

Apart from my initial problem of getting into the book, once you’re used to the style it makes an enjoyable and informative read for all ages. Aimed at kids changing their parents’ habits (fining them for using carrier bags etc), it also has useful tips for turning teachers green and also becoming a green citizen yourself.

Available at from Green Books, How To Turn Your Parents Green costs £6.50, is 91 pages, is printed on Nine Lives recycled paper and published by Tangent Books.

Guest Editor Steu Mann - Students Motivate Themselves in Environmental Education

K-12 students in Kenya, Paris, or San Diego all have one significant commonality: the environment. What Inconvenient Truth did for raising the bar on environmental education is, without a doubt, “global awareness?” I think whoever watches it, even if they don’t agree with the message, gets a clear picture of how different aspects of the environment are directly connected to our life styles.

Every class of my high school students watching that movie have concluded with the question, “What can I do?” Young people today do care about what happens with the environment; yet many feel overwhelmed or powerless in dealing with environmental issues. My experience leads me to believe that the time has arrived to capture their interest with learning experiences to discover appropriate care of tomorrow’s healthy environment, which means providing environmental education that is academically focused and civically pointed.

Service learning contributes to student education, along with building social skills: character building. Service-learning is considered a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Constructivists (e.g., Brooks & Brooks, 1999) propose that students actively create their own knowledge using real world situations to examine essential concepts in a context that is personally meaningful. Service-learning has been around since for almost 100 years as a method to enhance education. Since the early 1990’s there have been more and more legislative efforts and comprehensive national programs to emphasize and support this learning. Today, there’s a growing interest on the part of educators as more studies point out the cross- curriculum benefits.

Producing projects that combine service learning and environmental education is easily accomplished to fulfill lesson objectives and it can be molded to fit class characteristics. Here are two examples of projects for grades 5-12: A) students in a middle school science class studying the environment help preserve the species of birch trees, local to their area, by raising money to purchase some small birch trees and then plant them at a local park or forested area; B) students concerned with the quality of the environment organize a recycling effort at school by establishing and carrying-out a schedule of regularly picking up recyclable materials from classes and offices; then depositing that material in a campus bin that is picked up by a recycle vendor. There are volumes of benefits for students participating in a project.

Educators have to take the lead in class environmental projects. The teacher has to get them pointed in the right direction, assist them in getting organized, and keep them on track. When I hear my students asking about what they can do, I take their interest down to our local level. We begin talking about ideas to clean up the campus, teaching other students about the environment, or doing some work in the neighborhood. We begin with brainstorming on ideas as a class. The next step is alignment, making a commitment as a class to take some action on at least one project we have discussed. The last step is the most comprehensive because it involves the actual project work. The pivotal point is the students taking control and running the project work, which happens when the teacher becomes a resource or Subject Matter Expert. If you want a copy of my Environmental Project Packet, which helps the students and I stay organized. Receive my Environmental Project Packet for free by clicking here.

There’s a multitude of projects that integrate environmental stewardship with academic success. This project type is totally complaint with current Standards. From a teacher point of view, as much as I want to deny it, the fact remains: I must teach to the test to have my students succeed. Below are two of the National Science Education Standards whose scope is deep enough to encompass most environmental service learning projects for grades 5-12:

- Content Standard B: The program of study in science for all students should be developmentally appropriate, interesting, and relevant to students’ lives; emphasize student understanding through inquiry; and be connected with other school subjects.

- Content Standard C: Teachers of science engage in ongoing assessment of their teaching and of student learning.

I guarantee all teachers this: if you have the time and sincere motivation, the students will gladly partner with you on completing an environmental project. It’s a win-win situation: the students win in academics and in skill building, the teacher wins as the students learn while practicing responsibility, and the environment is nurtured. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want to receive support in getting an environmental education project started with your class(es).

Resources

North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE)

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Education

National Service Learning Clearinghouse

National Student Service-Learning and Community Service Survey

References

Brooks, Jacqueline Grennon, Martin Brooks. In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms. Alexandria, VA; Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development,1999.

About the Author: Steu Mann is a high school biology teacher as a second career. He established Education Reporting, Inc. in his effort to provide a resource for improving K-12 education. Any questions or comments can be sent to him at smann@educationreporting.com.

Labels are confusing and can be misleading…

A few days a go I had found a article in Good Housekeeping which talked about what are these fancy names we put on products in the store like “natural” and “no CFC’s” and what they really mean to the consumer. I had read this article and knew about most of the labels and learned some about these labels but there was one that I was curious what it really means when it is labeled so I thought I would do some some research on this label. The label I was curious and done some research on was “organic” the information I had found online was kinda interesting. So heres what I had found out about organic labels.

Organic is a agriculture product made without pesticide, harmful chemicals, hormones. You can find “organic” on most anything but most of the time it is not completely organic unless you see one of many logo’s like these.

These logo’s on products found in groceries stores are quite hard to get placed and certified on a product because they test just about everything from fertilizers to what the wood was treated with on fences and if one thing that is tested as “modified” the produce won’t be certified to sell as organic. Only 100% organic products may use the organic seal. if a product is 95% is organic they can’t put the organic seal but they can say it is a organic substance. If the product is at least 70% they only can label up to three items that are organic. finally if a item has less than 70% organic they can’t say its organic anywhere on the item. for more information visit this site http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/FactSheets/Backgrounder.htm Heres the actual chart that was in the magazine Good Housekeeping. In other words your best bet will be finding a product that has a certified seal that states that it is certified “organic” on the product you want to buy.

Before you buy something try to remember what the correct labels for a item should be and what labels you should not buy into on a certain product.

I’m not sure any of this information applies to people in the U.K. but it certain it does apply to the people in U.S.A.

Vampire Energy Costing Us $3 Billion A Year!

Good Magazine has a great graphic depicting the economic implications of leaving appliances plugged in for an entire year. We all know that a minuscule amount of energy is being consumed just by leaving a device plugged in - but, an average consumer with a reasonable electronics collection will waste around $300 leaving all those gadgets plugged in year round. Thats 2,500 kilowatt hours completely wasted!

In a recent research published by the Energy Saving Trust they’ve calculated that if one mobile phone charger per household in the UK is left on standby, the energy wasted is enough to provide the electricity needs of 66,000 homes for one year.

Those of you with a plasma TVs, take notice…

Story via the fantastic PSFK

Consume Less

Recently I had been sent a e-mail with a link to this wonderful video that explained that as consumers most of us don’t see or see too little of what the big picture has to tell us about what the real cost of what it takes to produce a product in terms of money, content and pollution to create and make a item we see in a store.

There are five steps in the process of creating product. First there is extraction of natural resources next comes the process of production made from the natural resources, chemicals etc. then comes distribution at your local stores which leads people to consume or buy a product and finally the disposal of the product. This short video digs deeper into these five steps in making and distributing from life to death of a product. The short movie with Annie Leonard is about 20 minutes long which you can see at The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard also on their web page you can watch, download the video which is about 55mb in size, or you can even buy a DVD with this video for $10. I recommend this video for everyone to watch especially for the real consumers that keep buying products more than what the average person may buy in a given month or year. Spread the word about this video it may even get you thinking about what you even buy for the holidays, birthdays party’s or even things you buy for your own self.

Guest Editor: Jack Guest - A Convenient Truth, a film about the world getting better

Only a few years ago, anyone working to raise awareness about climate change was doing just that: working to raise awareness. The challenge was primarily to convince people that climate change was happening, and that it was a problem to take seriously.

One of the refreshing things about today’s climate is that this first challenge has been won. Thanks in large part to Al Gore, and all the work preceding his, global warming is all but uniformly recognised - both on a national and international level- as the greatest threat facing humanity today.

This means that for the first time in the history of environmental campaigning, activists, politicians, mothers, fathers, businesses and anyone else moved to act can focus all of their energy on creating solutions to the problem. And this means that the challenge of global warming can become an opportunity for things to get better.

From all I’ve seen so far, the cornerstones of this opportunity are two-fold: collaboration and action. Action is self explanatory: we have to do something, and we have to do it now. Collaboration is the mechanism to do it. Gone are the days of ‘them and us’ approaches to environmental issues- more clearly than ever we all see that there’s a massive problem, and the only way out is to work together.

That means governments, businesses, pressure groups, families, students, civil servants, red, blue, green, black, white, pink, capitalist, anarchist, socialist , upper-class, lower-class, working-class, middle-class, religious, non-religious, 4×4 driving, cycle driving, suit or sandal wearing, you name it. We are united by our common humanity, and if that doesn’t make sense to you, then by our common being on this blue ball together a long, long way from any other coloured balls on which we can live.

So what’s the convenient truth about all this? That doing the work- doing what’s needed to stabilise the climate, not only enriches our own lives, it also enriches the lives of those around us, and everyone with a stake in planet earth- which is everyone. Everyone wins.

It’s not always easy. Collaboration, whether within a family, or within the arena of international politics takes work. It takes work to get through our clashing egos in order for our common humanity to emerge: imagine Mr Capitalist and Mr Anarchist in the Big Brother House arguing over whose turn it is to do the washing up, meanwhile the chickens in the garden are being eaten by a hungry fox who got driven from his home in the woods.

The question is the nature of our end goal. Too often in life the end goal is drama, tension, sparks flying and continuing to fly. Is that what we want on a planetary level? Or can our end goal be harmony? Can we do away with the drama of doom and gloom, now? Do away with the tension of political stand-off? Can we collaborate enough so that once the initial sparks of ego clashes have flown, they can recede and we can get on with the job at hand?

I think we can, and I think it’s worth it. And that’s A Convenient Truth.

The feature length preview of my film, A Convenient Truth, is now available online, www.climatefilm.com/preview

View the trailer on YouTube or visit the website at www.climatefilm.com

Great Book Up for Grabs

The Green Marketing Manifesto, John Grant’s new book is out and everyone with an interest in the dynamics of green consumerism, the promises of sustainable business, the pitfalls of greenwashing and more should get hold of it.

So for celebrating both the launch of Green Guys Global and John’s new book I have one copy up for grabs! If you want a copy of the book, leave a nice comment below, tell me why you believe you should get a free copy and it’s yours!

Buy the book here