World Environment Day – Teaching Our Children

It should never be understated the importance of raising awareness amongst future generations, our children, of sustainable practices. It is essential that future generations see our planet in a different way than we do, i.e. that they don’t see it as a source from which to extract any needed material to satisfy any slight desire.

Today, Friday, June 5 is World Environment Day. It’s a day that was created to bring political and social awareness to the environment on a global scale. It’s intention is to make aware that our planet is, indeed, all of ours. We are the planet’s caretakers.

Dave taking the time to show some gardening techniques.

Since World Environment Day’s inception, and it’s grand motivation, many great things have been done to help ensure that we can live in symbiosis with our planet. Awareness has risen on the importance of our place in the environment. Worldwide campaigns against deforestation, global warming, food waste, and air pollution have brought these concerns front and center. However, in the last several years, there have been political and commercial agencies that have disregarded these lesson.

Regulations are being cut back on air quality. Moves are being made to exploit land that has been set aside to increase conservation efforts. Indeed, there are numerous examples of industries who will disregard their negative impacts on the earth and insist that Mother Nature simply “take another one for the team.”

Nora talking with an Eco Camper about frogs.

And this is why it is so important to keep our relationship with Mother Nature current. It’s why we need to continually reintroduce the same lessons of the past to every generation, because in the meantime, they are being forgotten (or perhaps even ignored.)

The lesson of preserving our natural resources in the interest of future generations is utmost. The lesson that humanity does not have dominion over the earth, but is a part in a well designed (eco)system is one that simply can not be forgotten.

So, how do we do this? How do we show these lessons? It’s one thing to put out messages that emphasize these lessons, but things that really make a difference are actions. At HDT, we believe in hands-on projects, workshops, camps and working our gardens all help show that importance.

We talk with people from our area, we relate with families, we meet with local and state politicians. We believe that doing this helps show that we are all playing vital roles in making our world a better place.

That’s what we’re hoping for through every one of our interactions with children. Through our Eco Camps (and now our Home Grown Stewards Programs) be believe that the wonder and curiosity of our great world can be grown and regrown over and over. But, good news. Our planet also has the ability to be grown and regrown. All we need to do is help encourage that process.

Come with us.

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