What’s the difference between George Bush and Al Gore? Bush is raping and scraping mother earth and Gore is deeply committed to protecting her. But why are these two characters such worlds apart? How can we make sure that our kids turn out more like Gore and less like Bush?

I came across some interesting research that says people who become committed to looking after the planet share similar childhood experiences. These are:

1. They have witnessed a sense of unfulfillment in others who are economically “successful” (Often these people are the person’s parents or relatives).

2. They experienced an introspective childhood that involved significant early experiences with nature.

3. They had role models with some ecological or natural history interests (both in and outside the family).

4. They had an intense emotional experience involving the death of animals.

5. They had a magical play place in the outdoors and discovered a drastic alteration such as their favourite tree being cut down or pollution of a stream or beach.

6. They have romantic fantasies deriving from specific books, films, or television shows.

7. They engaged in outdoor activities such as backpacking, camping, bird watching and fishing in which they experienced intense emotions.

8. They have had dreams or daydreams of being a victim of nuclear catastrophe.

Perhaps we don’t want our kids to have nightmares of nuclear warfare, but more time spent out in nature, developing their imagination instead of being stuck in front of the TV could make all the difference.

This study also suggests that people like Al Gore aren’t just created over night, but through the right experiences and nurturing early on in life. I remember the movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ revealed some of Gore’s early childhood experiences out on the family farm.

If you’re thinking ‘I didn’t have any of those experiences as a child, is it too late for me?’ it’s never too late to develop the ecological part of yourself, and even better, if you can enjoy doing this with a young person in your life.

References
Sadava, S.W & McCreary, D.R (eds). (1997). Applied Social Psychology. United States: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

I was reading a terrific book yesterday called Ecological Literacy: Educating Our Children for a Sustainable World. There was a chapter on a wonderful school, Mary E. Silveira School, in California.

This school teaches elementary school students to care for the earth and it does so in a hands on, empowering fashion.

One inspiring example is a group of students called the energy team conduct energy audits and write notes to teachers, reminding them to turn off their lights and/or computers when a class goes out for recess or lunch.

But it doesn’t stop there. The schools energy team joined the Affordable Communities Energy Education program and spent 2003-2004 working with local senior citizens in a housing facility. School Principal Jeanne Casella said of the program ‘The kids put up energy-reminder signs and doorknob bookmarks in English and Spanish, and helped the residents to replace traditional lightbulbs with energy-efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs and to take other simple actions. They saved the seniors about 5 percent on their energy bills’.

Not only did the seniors benefit from the experience, but so did the children. Fifth grade student and member of the energy team, Sara Lee, said ‘We go around to the apartments checking that the lights are off and on, so that we can save them money on their energy bill. The money they save goes to the fun stuff they do’. The kids were able to learn all about energy efficiency and feel great by helping the community as well.