Bringing Nature to the Classroom
Youth are uniquely equipped to change the world because they dream. They choose not to accept what is, but to imagine what might be. Desmond Tutu
Recently I was invited by my friend Ava, to visit her elementary school and talk about coral reefs and the work of Mary Hagedorn at the University of Hawaii. I love to see so much creativity in young minds and see how they are so eager to learn and try to help the environment. I love to see people like Ava wanting to make a change. She was so enthusiastic about my environmental work that she wants to try things too like visit the hatchery in my neighbourhood. To see her passion at such a young age is really exciting. I think the hatchery is a great place for her to learn more about her local environment and maybe she’ll become even more motivated to help. I hope there are more kids out there like Ava who are taking one step forward to becoming good earth stewards. Sometimes before kids can get in touch with nature, nature has to be brought to them. Once they fall in love with it, they’ll want to discover those things in their own natural habitats and then a whole new world will open up to them. Ava’s classmates seemed to understand how important our environment is and their teacher was definitely a great resource for them. Their next step would be to explore the outdoors in their free time and with their families to find what inspires them.