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Focus the Nation 2008: Global Climate Change Meets Ecophobia by David Sobel
Global Climate Change Meets Ecophobia
David Sobel: Clobal Climate Change Meets Ecophobia
(54 minutes)
Best viewed in Internet Explorer
Where: AUNE Community Room
When: Thursday, January 31, 2008
Most educators realize we have to start doing something about global climate change in schools. But how is this issue most effectively integrated into an already jam-packed curriculum? And are there any developmental parameters that we should attend to in figuring out how and where climate change education should go? At all grade levels? Just in high school?
My desire is to approach this from a perspective that maximizes hope. If we lead with all the tragic implications of climate change, then we risk scaring children into despair. In Beyond Ecophobia I suggested, “No (environmental) tragedies before fourth grade.” Since global climate change certainly qualifies as an environmental tragedy, that guideline applies here. But, even in kindergarten, we begin to model living lightly in the classroom , taking care of classroom plants and animals, turning off the lights. We create opportunities for children to practice ecological behaviors as part of the classroom and school culture.
Essentially, I advocate for using the classroom as a microcosm of the school, the school as a micocosm of the community. Through teaching children to behave in an environmentally responsible fashion in the school, children develop the kinds of behaviors we want them to execute as responsible adults in the community.
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