Teaching Kids About Climate Change

Teaching Kids About Climate Change

There are no better words to reiterate that climate change (and global warming) is real, and the most affected will be the generations to come. However, it’s what we do today that will safeguard the future of our world, which means ensuring that we protect the world today for their tomorrow. This is because if we don’t, there are so many environmental and social problems awaiting them and the sad news is, they had no part in causing them. Kids are fast learners and whatever they learn at this early stage will be carried on to their offspring.

Teaching Kids About Climate Change
[ photo: pixabay. com ]

Among the most important subjects we need to teach our children is climate change. The world as we know it is rapidly changing, mostly due to globalization. The baby boomer generation has firsthand experience with the effects of climate change, an experience not so obvious to their children. So to them, unless it's explained in a way that they’ll understand, our efforts to preserve our world will be futile. While we wouldn’t want to scare them to death, here’s how to teach kids about climate change.

1. Break It Down

Climate is a complex topic that when being introduced to kids, will have to be broken down into different subtopics. The first thing you will want to do is define climate change in a way that they’ll understand. Kids need to know that while human beings are trying their best to earn a living and survive, it’s some of the practices used to generate income that contribute the greatest to climate change. In addition to this, they'll need to know the effects of climate change and how we can slow it down if not prevent that from happening.

2. Introduce Kids to Organizations That Fight Climate Change

The climate change topic is reaching so many people today than it did some years back. This is helping to create awareness on the effects of climate change. But most of these efforts have been through non-governmental organizations who’ve been at the forefront in not only educating the masses on the effects of climate change but also in helping those affected by climate change.

Various organizations such as UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and IPPC (International Plant Protection Convention) are some of the world's leading whistleblowers on articulating the changes we need to make this world a better place. 

For them to know the value of collective action and embrace the spirit of togetherness, you can as well introduce them to Trvst, a leading online platform that is all about bringing people together for a common course, especially those who are passionate about improving our world. This helps ensure that our kids are not only learning about climate change, but they are also learning to be proactive in their focus on creating a better future for themselves.

Teaching Kids About Climate Change
[ photo: pixabay. com ]

3. Helping Kids to Love Nature

Well, not every kid will be for the idea of taking nature walks or participating in tree planting events. Nevertheless, giving them a reason to enjoy and love nature is a step that could impact their lives. They must experience the beauty our world displays. 

One way to do this is by giving them first-hand experiences such as allowing them to see wildlife every now and then, allowing them to play on trees, and or even having a pet around. After they’ve enjoyed all these, you can then explain that the only way to keep everything as beautiful and majestic as it is, is to protect the environment and prevent the adverse effects of climate change.

4. It All Starts At Home

Kids learn best by illustrations. If we want our kids to practice what we teach them, we need to set the examples. You can set the right living standards right from where you are. They don’t need to be taken to a class or listen to long climate change speeches to act, they just need to be led right.

Environment-friendly practices such as disposing of waste the right way, preserving water, and avoiding to use plastic bags could help towards driving home the point and educating them on the benefits of each and every practice to our environment.

5. The Use Of Interactive Activities

Most of the things you want your kids to learn about climate change are science-based. Your kids may lack an interest in science but they’ll appreciate some activities to go along with it. Having fun with scientific experiments will help to broaden their perspectives. 

For instance, the use of robotics, oceanography, and geology kits are but some of the coolest things to help your kids learn about nature. While on the same note, visual illustrations such as videos that are age-appropriate on the subject of climate change would also help a lot.

There are so many things we would want our kids to learn. But then again, what’s the use of leaning agriculture if there won’t be enough rain to sustain our crops in the next five decades to come? If we want to secure the future of our kids, it all starts with what we teach them today, and that’s about climate change.