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Rise Up! New Initiative Teaches Kids about Sustainability

May 25, 2016 por Juan Roberto Paredes - Emma Näslund-Hadley Leave a Comment


 

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“No man is an island entire of itself…”  We’ve all heard this poem before. True enough, none of us are as independent as we think.  Neither are ecosystems!  In fact, people and nature rely on each other.  It’s all about relationships.  Whatever we do somehow affects the environmental balance.   If you didn’t realize that until now, wouldn’t it be good to teach our kids about it earlier?  After all, since they’re going to inherit the earth, they need to know how improper disposal of their ice cream wrapper may affect the land, coastlines, oceans, skies and, more importantly, them!

Mindfulness today heightens the chances of breathing fresh air, playing in clean water, and eating more nutritious foods tomorrow.   Aiming for environmental sustainability raises childrens’ consciousness about the planet and future generations.  So when does awareness of biodiversity begin?  The IDB Initiative Rise Up jump starts climate change prevention and adaptation in schools.   Let’s learn more about the new initiative!

Educational spaces, apart from their functionality and efficient use of natural resources, enhance learning while offering comfort and security to students.  In classrooms, teachers can use Rise Up materials to alternate between nine basic sets of lesson plans on different climate change topics such as land conservation and nutrition.  Students will learn how to lessen the cumulative impact of society on the environment by engaging in daily creative instructional activities.  Teachers can organize discussions and experiments with learning games, 26 instructional videos, a Green Tool Kit, and even comics.  Kids will even discover how to convert trash into learning tools.  For example, discarded plastic bottles can be recycled into great water filtration systems or small gardens.  Roof tops can be adapted into urban agricultural centers.

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Educators adjust flexible primary and secondary level plans to reach modest, intermediate, or advanced level thinkers.  With this adaptation, students grasp basic but difficult concepts like the influence of mountains, seas, deserts and plateaus on climate, winds, and water.  All educational levels can learn how the interaction of the lithosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere have shaped the earth.  Once engaged, EVERY kid will embrace saving the planet and working toward preserving biodiversity.  Kids will appreciate that city pipes provide water for their home gardens and that the H2O running through the drains of their homes into creeks will flow into rivers and finally into wetlands or other larger bodies of water.   The lessons present indisputable scientific evidence on droughts, floods, and fast-rising global temperatures that could potentially doom future food and water supplies. Each lesson also integrates long-range, biodiverse strategies training kids to look for solutions to these problems.  By becoming solution oriented they invest in the future of Latin America and the Caribbean. Isn’t that beautiful?

At its core, Rise Up exposes children and youth to life-style changes aimed at preserving the environment.  By educating a generation of people to face challenges, overcome obstacles, and tackle issue with strength, toughness, and tenacity, kids become cognizant of how their daily behaviors affect the world.  Rise Up promote discussions about subjects like ‘What will your life will be like in 10 or 15 years?  Do you imagine yourself being happy, working on what you like, and enjoying wildlife and clean, fresh air?  How is your lifestyle today affecting your chances of enjoying such a future?’ Lessons also present information from institutions like the World Health Organization which reports that all cities and towns should have a minimum of nine square meters (m2) of green space per person.  In Latin America there are 3.5 m2 per capita.  Students can research to find out where their own town stands in comparison.

M80A0667Fully aware that the solution to climate change is complex, ‘Rise Up’ launches the region’s youngest and greatest stakeholders on a different path.  With tools like the Green School Toolkit, teachers provide lessons biodiversity to their students who can then work to make a better world. Through a ‘hands on’ philosophy of promoting, improving, and celebrating sustainability, kids will acquire habits which they can transfer from school to home and to their community.

These lessons will help students become citizens of a world and use resources more efficiently.  While excessive heat continues wreak havoc on global agriculture, food production and water resources in several parts of the world, these young ambassadors will learn the problem solving skills to make changes to ensure a better future.  Kids will learn that they are not individual ‘islands’ and that everyone is responsible for taking care of the environment.  So, let’s ALL ‘wise up’ and ‘Rise Up!’ against climate change.  That’s poetry in motion!

To access Rise Up click here!


Filed Under: Español, Uncategorized

Juan Roberto Paredes

Juan Roberto Paredes is a Senior Renewable Energy Specialist at the Energy Division of the Infrastructure and Environment Department at the Interamerican Development Bank, the largest provider of multilateral finance in Latin America and the Caribbean. Throughout his career he has advised several governments, energy regulators and public utilities in the region on topics such as grid integration of variable renewable energies, smart grids, electric mobility and regional electricity integration. Prior to his role at the IDB, he had the opportunity to work for private sector consultancies and clean energy developers in Germany and the UK, gaining extensive experience by assessing more than 1GW of wind and solar projects.    Mr. Paredes has B.Sc. degrees in in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from the University of Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and a M.Sc. degree in Renewable Energies from Oldenburg University in Germany. He also has executive program degrees in Infrastructure from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Energy and Climate Change from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Energy Innovation and Emerging Technologies from Stanford University.

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