The Earth Savers Blog

The Artful Dodger....Penelope Paper Saver

                          STATS
                         Favorite Hobby:  Origami
                          Favorite Sport:   Zip lining and tree climbing

Favorite Food:   Bananas and apples

Favorite Animal: Monkeys

Best Known for: Using old materials creatively to make new             things

Eco Peeve:      Excessive Packaging + throwing things away             that can be used again

Future:            Wants to be a famous children's book writer
Sign:               Libra
Element:         Air             
 

• Penelope is an artist….she loves being creative, and reuses old materials to sculpt or create her latest masterpiece. She is an observer and a doer. She is a dreamer and very individualistic in her style. She has been especially focused on photography and the use of collage lately, and is always trying new mediums and exploring how art imitates life. 

 

•Born in Rhode Island, she often “hangs out” at the RISD campus dreaming of the day she will become an art student, and often tries to impress the big kids with her ideas and artwork.  

                                       

Bringing Nature Back to School Part II

The million dollar question: How can we bring the importance of nature and the emphasis of conservation back to the classroom in a way that inspires children into action? Or alternatively posed: How can we bring the classroom and it's students back to the importance of nature and what it continues to teach us about ourselves, our place in the universe, and impacts our vision of a better future for following generations?

Nature is human kinds ultimate classroom, and will be our salvation if we allow it to be.

For what it's worth here are my 2 cents:

• First we need to create the listening inside the classroom on the topic of conservation, and to do this there must be a relationship between the current state of the environment and how it got there. Where did it all begin,? History? Anyone? Anyone?

I'm not suggesting a religious story of creation,  merely that as adults we put our creative brains to work to create a "context" for children within which this conversation will begin.

( BTW- There are so many great opportunities for history lessons from this perspective not the least of which is The U.S. Constitution, The Industrial Revolution, and the eras of the roaring 20’s up through current day that a history teacher might add into his or her lesson plan for the year. The evolution of environmental plundering...if you will

So if you are a kid, you want to know the following:
Who? What? Why? Where?

• How did the planet get sick in the first place?

• What is global warming?

• Where did it all begin?

• Why did we create so much waste and why did we not know any better?

• Who was involved?

• How are we going to fix it?

As adults I believe it is our responsibility to let children be children, and leave the burdensome information for the adults. I believe that this is the largest factor keeping parents and educators from tackling the issue.

I have a friend on Al Gores Climate Summit who told me that as a collective group they are cautioned   against speaking to children about the devastating facts and effects of global warming.  If the topic of climate crisis is not delivered properly it can even cause a more dangerous result: fear, and resignation.

In my humble opinion I believe we should endeavor to create a context for learning where children can empathize with our collective humanity, realize that as a human species we've made some mistakes, and actualize with their own unique contribution to help us in our quest to restore harmony and balance between nature and humans.  It's very freeing for a child to get a lesson in an adults humility.  Ultimately we want to leave them empowered and teach them not only the power of one, but the power of community, forgiveness and resolution.

There are so many valuable lessons for all of humankind in the face of the environmental crisis. I think the time should be used to embrace the opportunity. We've should not overstep the responsibility to educate our children nor should we shirk the explanation we owe our children.

That said I'm sure it begs the question of how then do we actually start a dialog with children on this topic?

My solution:

• Allow a child to relate to characters in a story line that allow them to make their own parallels, and draw some conclusions. Inspire their imagination, and harness their “can do” attitude to help out. I'm not a particularly religious person ( I grew up in a strict catholic home) but I do know that the Prophet Jesus said something like, "and the little children shall lead us...."

I believe that if given the right tools, children can be the thought leaders for our future generations. They can be the agents of change for humanity and a healthier conscious for our collective species.aboit

I have created a story called The Great Forgetting that I will offer here on the Earth Savers Blog in the coming weeks  in episode form.  You are welcome to tune in, embellish them or alter their content to suit your own household, student body our age of audience.

The goal of the series is to awaken inspiration, self actualization, and elevate environmental consciousness in the lives of children and their communities.

I hope you’ll join the adventure.

Your fellow Earth Saver,

Monica Rodgers

Bringing Nature Back to School

Parents and teachers are overwhelmed.
Parents often have busy lives and hectic schedules between work, kids schedules, friends and school, and Teachers are more pressed than ever to make sure that their class curriculum is on schedule. Unfortunately they lack a coordinated game plan to teach and groom children and tweens to be eco-conscience and keep an eye toward the future of the planet.

We face a great dilemma now. It seems to reason that given the severity of the crisis we face that we might make some time inside our schools for this much needed education, but yet the majority of schools have no system in place to even recycle let alone bring green education into the classroom. The No Child Left Behind act also has stymied the progression of these types of programs due to the pressure put on teachers to get math scores and reading scores up. Another huge issue that looms against progress within US schools in favor of environmental awareness is the desegregation of each school district. In many cases each school acts as it's own governing body or there may be several schools in a district working together in their educational structure, but at this point, just like the No Child Left Behind Act...can we not alter amend or add another more important one around educating children as quickly as possible on the fundamentals of the environment, it's seasons, rhythms, cycles, and bounty in an effort to help children apply critical thinking to problem solving in all disciplines? Can't we use ecology and it's lessons to applied science, writing, geography, history, mathematics, etc.

How about a DO NO HARM to the environment act that we could mandate and then judge a teachers work by how many carbon offsets can be created by his/her students? What good is the No Child Left Behind act if there is nothing to leave behind?

My daughter goes to a Waldorf School, and I love the way they bring the natural world to the classrooms.
I know that there are many many schools like this that have their own unique way of creating unity and harmony with nature and nurturing and identifying the balance between humans and the earth and all it's species. There are certainly schools who are doing it effectively so why could we not start by using their own methods and lessons as an example to learn from?

Olivia Water Saver ...An Old Soul

The oldest and wisest character, Olivia, sets the groundwork for the basis of the story. She explains “The Great Forgetting,” or a break in communication between the earth and human beings, bringing us to the current state of our environment. Olivia was born in Hawaii but now lives off the coast of Rhode Island. She grew up surfing, playing water sports, and studying sea life. She is a complex mix of emotion and intuition, and is ruled by the water element. She will tend to “mother” the other children as the series unfolds.

Stats:                                 
Birthday: June 28th, 1997
Age: 11
Favorite Food: Sushi
Favorite Sport: Surfing
Nickname: Livy
Favorite Animal: Whale
Eco Peeve: Plastic Bags
Sign: Cancer
Element: Water

 

Forget the lemonade stand and other cool activities for kids…

                          So what is a parent to do with the prolific amount of artwork that gets collected in even a single week of parenting a child who loves to draw or create projects? Kids come home with something they have made every day at summer camp or in school and unless you strategically figure out a way to dispose of them or save them in a large storage unit it may get to be a bit much….

Here is one mother’s idea:

Hold a neighborhood fundraising art exhibit and ask a few of your child’s friends to participate…BYOA (bring your own artwork!)

Teaches a number of great lessons: Organizing an event, community building, communication, creativity, aknowledgements for your accomplishments, and being in service to others.

• Choose a charity, animal shelter or family you would like to do the event in honor of.

• Start advertising it the week or month before in a newspaper’s weekly event calendar (it should be free because it’s a not for profit event) advertise on craigslist, or put signs around town. Kids can also create invitations (use the back of older art drawings to recycle and reuse) to walk invitations to area neighbors homes noting the time, date, and purpose of the event, and you should choose a rain date in case the weather is not cooperating that day… kids can get really disappointed after the build up only to be greeted by rain.

• Choose an area that has a fence or get some plywood to create the walls for your exhibit and designate each child an area to hang their work the day of the exhibit. If they have 3D art work you can have it out on a table in their area.

• The afternoon of the event you can put balloons outside and make some lemonade for refreshments so that the guests can sip cool refreshments (you can even bake and sell the cookies or brownies in your fundraising efforts!)
• You can have a donation box at the entrance to "suggest" the events intentions
• Weather the event makes 50 cents or $150.00 it’s a worth-while and fun learning activity for everyone involved. It will make a neighbors smile, the kids will have a sense of pride and accomplishment and its a great way to build community in your neighborhood. Someone should be designated to handle all proceeds to either write a check or purchase the supplies for the organization you are supporting (maybe buying a grocery cash card for a local family)in any case a nice touch is to include a card with the funds enclosed signed by both artists and parents.

• Extra ideas:
        o Have silent auction sheets beside the works if guests would like to bid on a piece,
        o Make buttons with the kids before the event for them to wear that might describe them like:     Matt the Dinosaur artist or; I’m Lucy the sculptor
        o Bios of the artists are a nice touch that tells a little bit about the artists interests.
        o You could also name the event… “Art for a Cure” or
            “Creativity feeds our community” etc…   

For some extra PR *Extra Credit and attention you can always call the local newspaper to ask if they would like to attend the event and take photos and talk to the kids as it makes for a nice touch that will inspire other parents around the idea, and offer a great editorial touch for the community paper.

Would love to hear your thoughts.....please comment