Raising environmental awareness in children

Raising environmental awareness in children

Ahmad Bukhori, Boston, Massachusetts

Children are our future. They are indeed the most vulnerable
group in our society. Look at the recent Aceh tsunami disaster
where almost half of the victims were children. To save them from
devastating calamities in the future, we need to educate them
about natural disasters and develop their awareness of the need
for environmental preservation. They need to be aware of their
country's geographical position and its potential for natural
disasters, and how to better anticipate them. This is necessary
because Indonesia is perched precariously atop the "Ring of
Fire".

Although humans cannot control natural disasters like volcanic
eruptions, earthquakes, and landslides, the effects of these
disasters can be exacerbated by human error. Some analysts claim
that the recent devastating tsunami was possibly triggered by oil
exploration. Deforestation and global warming caused by human
activity have also caused many natural disasters like floods,
landslides and forest fires.

While we give every possible assistance to tsunami victims, we
also have to think of long-term preventive programs. One such
program could be to promote strong environmental awareness in
children. The effects of human error leading to natural disasters
has been phenomenal, especially for Indonesia which is located in
such a seismically unstable region.

Therefore, all parties should do whatever possible to make our
children realize how salient the impact of human greed can be on
our natural environment. Logically, we must teach our children
about our geographical position. Then, we must explain the
possible sources of natural disasters.

Parents should begin introducing environmental awareness to
their children with the small things. They should show their
children how to properly dispose of garbage so as not to block
the rivers. They should also tell their children how to close
water faucets so as not to waste water.

On weekends, parents could get their children to do some
gardening. When school vacation comes, they can accompany their
children in visiting museums of science, like the geology museum
in Bandung. This will enable children to know more about natural
history and its importance.

By understanding nature and building environmentally sensitive
behavior, our children can develop their sensitivity toward
nature. This in turn can help them preserve nature, and also to
be ready to cope with natural disasters in the future.

Such sensitivity towards nature helped significantly in
Simeuleu, an island off the coast of Aceh. In the recent tsunami
Simeuleu had a relatively small number of victims. Most of its
inhabitants, including children, are familiar with the phenomena
of tsunami following earthquakes. This awareness has been passed
down through generations and as a consequence they can recognize
signs of trouble and anticipate it by quickly moving to higher
ground.

As many geologists have proposed, school curricula should
incorporate more knowledge about the potential for natural
disasters. Geography and science teachers should tell their
students about the geographical position of our country, the
characteristics of different natural disasters like earthquakes
and volcanic eruptions, and how to better anticipate them.

Schools should also provide their students with authentic
earth-awareness educational resources to cover topics such as
rain forests, endangered animals, earthquakes, ecosystems, and
volcanoes.

Apart from this, schools should have a science laboratory or
other similar facility to bring authentic material into the
classroom.

Some developed countries already have programs such as the
"Green Kids" project that includes field trips to sites such as
botanical gardens, and promotes activities that relate to
furthering understanding and conservation ethics.

In the U.S., the "Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics" is
a national non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and
inspiring responsible outdoor recreation through education,
research and partnerships. Collaborating with schools, this
organization enables students to develop a relationship of
stewardship with the natural world, understand how to minimize
their impact on the environment when recreating, be able to make
responsible decisions about their behavior during recreation
activities, and share the message of "Leave No Trace" with
others.

Living in an archipelagic country, our children should love
the marine environment. The government through its Navy, together
with other social organizations, should promote a caring spirit
in children towards the marine environment. They can establish
organizations with programs dedicated to preserving aquatic
habitats while at the same time educating and entertaining them.

In Indonesia, such a program would expand the awareness of our
children and their families through informative programs and
interactive games. Its goal would be to provide a greater
awareness of our marine environment for children who may not have
previously been exposed to such information.

In the future, our children will have good environmental
awareness. They will be more familiar with natural disaster
phenomena so that they will be able to better anticipate such
disasters.

We, as children's primary role models, must be consistent in
how we treat nature. If we ignore nature by over-exploiting it,
our children will do the same.

The writer is a Fulbright student of the School of Education
at Boston University and a member of the teaching staff of
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung. He can be reached at
bukhoribandung@yahoo.com