Teresia Olotai, 35, one of the senior mamas in the Lobulu Maasai Boma, uses a new refrigerator powered by her community's solar micro-grid to keep fresh milk from spoiling. Photo credit: Morgana Wingard / USAID U.S. Agency for International Development
In this post, EE 30 Under 30 Leader Mariam Kabamba discusses how climate change, hunger, and education converge and introduces four environmental educators working toward solutions.
As environmental educators, it can be easy to focus on problems like climate change, deforestation, and extinction, but that can have negative impacts on young generations. Rather than inspiring them to care more, this can sometimes have the opposite affect by causing young people to feel helpless to make change. We can combat this by fostering a sense of place in our students, focusing on local ecosystems, and encouraging them to see nature all around them. A focus on local solutions gives us a chance to see how just a few people can make a big difference. We can inspire others by emphasizing tangible actions that they can personally take, since it always feels better to do something about the problems you see. Small adjustments to these lessons may be all it takes to change someone’s outlook!
CEE-Change Fellow Eileen Boekestein poetically expresses how the environmental education career journey isn't a pipeline, but a braided river of ever-changing entry points.
Guest writer David J. Backes shares the wisdom of Sigurd F. Olsen who is as relevant to connecting to nature today as in 1987. In the advancement of climate solutions, Backes describes how "hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up."
During the Worldwide Teach-In last March, students created terrariums after learning about the environmental benefits of gardening and growing food. Photo credit: Kerry Hustwit / Neumann University
"Show Your Stripes" image showing temperature change in North America since 1901. Most recent temperatures are on the right. Image credit: Professor Ed Hawkins (University of Reading) showyourstripes.info
Members of the Climate Change eePRO Group met at the NAAEE Annual Conference in October 2022. This blog recaps what was discussed and shares links to resources that were mentioned during the session.
