Please do One Little Thing for Mother Earth; Cultivating Conservationists. SOL#20.

Today, the Slice of Life Challenge Continues. The post that follows is for Day 5/Year 3.

My background is kind of weird. Basically, I’ve had two professions in my life so far. In both, I legitimized my knowledge as much as I could by getting Master’s degrees in each of the disciplines. Currently, I am an Environmental Educator. In April, I’ve been asked to make presentations to three different schools for their Earth Day Celebrations. In two of the three schools, I will talk t the entire student body. In the third, I will speak to two grade levels.  I love doing this! elementary-aged students are like little sponges, soaking up information and sometimes even catching my passion for our environment.

Two of the sessions are on topics I have spoken on before or am currently making a “circuit” of presentations. These topics are monarch conservation and cultivating citizen scientists. The hosts of the third presentation,  one I will make on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, wanted me to speak on the topic of Conservation. I agreed. But, WOW! Conservation is a big word for elementary students and an even bigger topic for a 45-minute presentation! So, I’ve been giving some thought as to how to approach this broad topic and give it meaning for the students, as well as call them (not their parents) to action. After all, if they are to inherit the Earth, they better learn how to take care of it!

The details are still to be worked out but I plan to demonstrate what and how they can become conservationists in a number of different areas, instead of just one. Today, there is so much that needs to be done to combat climate change and conserve our natural resources!  What is important to one person to address will not be for the next person. So, I’ll demonstrate that they have a choice in how to help.  One thing is for sure that doing nothing is no longer acceptable. I plan to introduce the students to what makes me a conservationist and how they can pick something that interests them to care for Mother Earth. I will address some of today’s hot topics such as pollinator habitat, water conservation, plastic use reduction, and kitchen waste elimination. For each of these areas, I will show the students the generally easy steps they need to perform to help our earth and conserve natural resources for future generations, including themselves.

Hopefully, for some, a light will go on and they will take to heart what I am showing them. Students can often be motivators for their own parents or neighbors. I have personally witnessed this effect.  A simple demonstration of exactly how much water they are wasting when they leave the faucet on while brushing their teeth can have an impact. I imagine a scenario of an eight-year-old girl telling her parents to turn the water off and when they ask why – she tells them what she learned – 5 gallons of water  are wasted if we leave the tap running while brushing our teeth! I plan to show them what 5 gallons of water would look like! It’s a lot!

So, my point is this – if we (every single person) all do one little thing to conserve – we’ll have many more Earth Days to celebrate in the future. All of our actions add up! What are you doing?

Today, the Slice of Life Challenge Continues. The above post is for Day 5/Year 3.