OK, raise your hands if you are currently numbed to the following terms: sustainability, local produce, greenhouse gas. How about: carbon footprint, wind farms, peak oil? Try these: Kyoto Protocol, clean coal, climate change. Yeah, me, too.
Seriously. I hear these and others through media and learned friends. The terms are casually thrown around so much that their significance seems gutted or condensed. (...polar bear...) They get swept under the rug. (...rain barrel...) Why is that?
We, as teachers, do need to be very alert to the whole global health thing. As I dig into the issues at hand for the near future I find the whole concept intimidating and overwhelming. I do keep up on current events. Educators do that. But current events that affect the future...well...that’s sometimes a different story. Many issues require a deep breath and some fortitude to read and digest.
Yet we are the facilitators for the school kids who will be front and center in twenty years, as mega-world decisions have to be made. What are our obligations in this department?
I believe it's clear teachers ought to be involved, and now. What we internalize ourselves and how we pass it along to kids is up for discussion. Lot’s of it. I’m sure topics like ethics and politics and geography and wealth will come up. Light themes, heavier themes, themes from daily living. Lot's of stuff for reflection.
Thanks for listening.
(...Prius...)
