World Environment Day

Green much?

I look forward to celebrating this day but not with friends and family. I want to be surrounded by individuals that really care about their planet and that I see making a great effort to help protect her. The party guests I want to invite are children and I think that they will like nothing more than to be outside amongst nature.

I am very fortunate to work with kind and considerate children who give up their free time to make their school a better place. The voluntary members of our Eco-Committee of all ages come together once a term and have agreed to work towards achievable green goals set out on an Action Plan. The children can attend Eco-Club after school so we can discuss ideas and carry out practical tasks. Believe it or not, the children love picking up litter from around the school grounds and planting new flowers for everybody to enjoy. We have Year 6 children volunteer to be in our “Green Team” where they give up their lunchtime to collect the paper and plastic recycling from each classroom. Bearing in mind these children are mostly eleven years old and their priorities include making the most of their free time, I am proud to see how often they ask if they need to do their ‘job’ today.

With it being World Environment Day, I started thinking about seeds. What do you think of when you hear that word? Flowers? Doubt? Ideas? In my eyes, children are seeds and need to be treated as so. A seed is a capsule, full of hope and possibility, small and fragile. It needs consistent care and patience. You carefully surround a seed with fresh earth to support it, much like the foundations of a family, friends and the wider community. In order for growth, you need sunlight and water. The sun always rises and is constant much like the wonder and enthusiasm children have for nature. Right, now for the water. Seeds do not need watering every day, you believe they have enough moisture and over-watering will cause them to drown. Water can be compared to opportunities for children such as trips to the beach, camping in the woods and spending time with animals.

Believing this helps me understand this quote, “From a small seed a mighty trunk may grow” Aeschylus, Greek Playwright.  With enough good role models and positive opportunities, the future generation will take over the care of the Earth and all of her inhabitants. Let’s hope they will do a better job.

“Our planet is being poisoned by plastic..." What can we do about it? Here are 10 simple techniques to reduce the amount of plastic you dispose of to help save our Planet...