Get a Laugh, Save the Planet - Visiting Environmentalistl

GET A LAUGH, SAVE THE PLANET – VISITING ENVIRONMENTALIST TELLS DIOCESAN ETHICS STUDENTS

What’s one of the best ways to save the planet? Simple, says renowned visiting environmentalist and educator Arron Wood: Teach kids not to be boring.

Wood, who has inspired more than 55,000 Australian kids in 13 years to educate their peers about environmental issues and to instigate thousands of projects to clean up waterways, plant trees and better protect animal species, knows what he is talking about.

The founder of Australia’s successful school-based Kids Teaching Kids programme spent a day at Diocesan School for Girls this month discussing environmental issues as part of the school’s Centre for Ethics initiative launched by patron Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias in March.

Farting cows, mountains of discarded cell phones, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and eating too much were among topics discussed at workshops pitched at Junior to Senior School students.

Turning the tables on Year 9 and 11 Religious Studies and Food Technology students, Wood asked how they could get people to care more about environmental issues and make changes – from small actions like recycling food scraps to lobbying businesses and politicians.

“I could go on and on about environmental issues and you could just fall asleep,” said Wood.

Being “funny” and “getting your audience to interact with each other” were some of the answers from the students who perhaps took their cue from Wood’s charismatic assembly talk to the whole school where he had students and teachers in stitches.

Wood, who grew up on the banks of the Murray River, has successfully campaigned for healthy rivers, creating the International River Health Program in 1999.

This forerunner to his Kids Teaching Kids programme involved hundreds of teachers and students taking part in student-run conferences and students researching environmental issues with industry mentors then presenting to peer groups.

Wood now advises the Australian government and has worked with international companies including Sony, Toshiba and PricewaterhouseCoopers as well as working with natural resource agencies such as the Murray-Darling Basin Authority.

In 2008 Arron and his father toured New Zealand’s North and South Islands, running teacher professional development for schools to implement aspects of the Kids Teaching Kids peer learning model in partnership with Enviroschools. Wood is hoping Kids Teaching Kids will take off in New Zealand as it has in other countries such as South Korea.

His accolades for more than a decade of environmental work include being named Young Australian of the Year, receiving a United Nations award for Outstanding Service to the Environment in 2006 and being selected for Al Gore’s Climate Change Leadership Program.

At Diocesan, Wood and students discussed the importance of understanding that cleaning up your own school, town or country is just as important as trying to save the Amazon.

“We also talked about the fact that, if kids do the research and run a clear campaign, governments do listen to them, despite their age,” he said.

Discussion topics at a workshop with Enviro Council and Ethics Committee senior students included: “Do developing countries have the same rights to develop like developed countries, even if it means exhausting the planet’s resources?” and “Do this generation’s rights outweigh those of future generations?”

Diocesan’s Centre for Ethics initiative includes more ethics teaching as part of existing curriculum subjects. Wood is the first of several guest speakers from ethics-related fields, such as academics, scientists and journalists, who will work with teachers and students from Year 1 to 13 and lead discussions and debates about ethical issues at parent and community evenings.

Australian animal rights advocate Lyn White will visit the school in July.

www.diocesan.school.nz

For more information about Kids Teaching Kids visit http://www.kidsteachingkids.com.au/

ENDS

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