Day 8: Educational Programming
Originally published: 8th April, 2020 on Facebook and Instagram
EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING/SOURCES
OK, we’re a week in you guys! So, today, it’s going to be a bit different. Here is a personal story…
I couple of years ago, I began to wonder where my interests about the environment and sustainability came from. My ambitions and life goals have changed a lot since I was a kid but this has been the one constant. Where did it come from? I traced it back to a few things, most notably…
(1) My grandmother’s backyard: An avid gardener, her back yard was filled with flowers, fruit, vegetables and tropical tress like mango, guava, lime, papaya and coconut. Squirrels, birds, insects and bees roamed about happily and it was a beautiful sight to behold. She also taught me how to make an airhorn using coconut leaves!
(2) Reading a chapter on the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the environmentalist Anna Hazare in middle school (he’s mostly known as a politician now, but not back then). He tackled the issues of drought, local agriculture, education, equality and women’s empowerment and was awarded India’s third highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan.
(3) CAPTAIN PLANET AND THE PLANETEERS. Arguably the thing that impacted me the most. No joke. Yes yes, I am a NERD. Let’s get that out of the way.
♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ …. CAPTAIN PLANET, HE’S OUR HERO, GONNA TAKE POLLUTION DOWN TO ZERO….♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
Now, many of you may not know or remember this show. But this is the show that taught me about
air pollution, greenhouse effect, desertification, deforestation, displacement of indigenous populations, crude oil leaks, acid rain, smog, redirecting of rivers for power generation (thereby causing flooding or drought), solar power, equality, the homelessness crisis
… and so much more! It was a good show and I watched it dedicatedly.
So, what I’m getting at is this…
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START LEARNING FOR YOURSELF, AND IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START TEACHING YOUR FAMILY/FRIENDS GOOD SUSTAINABILITY/ECO-FRIENDLY PRACTICES.
It is very likely that your friends and family are also trying to learn. Kids are very impressionable. So, start teaching them early…
(1) Encourage them to watch well curated and authentic shows, documentaries and read books related to sustainability and the Earth (I say this because there is all kinds of nonsense out there labeled as “educational” when it is clearly biased and paid entertainment).
(2) Teach yourselves and them good sustainability/eco-friendly practices:
For example, I remember well when my family had visited Japan when I was 8–9 yrs old. A Japanese friend gave me a gift, and in my excitement, I tore and threw the gift wrap on the ground in the street. She gently but sternly looked into my eyes and said “No”, picked up the little bits of paper and put them in her pocket to dispose off later. To this day, it has been imprinted in me to do the same…
KIDS SEE, KIDS DO.
(3) Start from a place of gratitude for all that we have and how we can use it mindfully, while leaving more for future generations.
We’re all in this together! THE POWER IS YOURS!
PROTIP: Check out Ecochallenge.org and Project Drawdown
