Warming Bedtime Stories

As a parent, one real challenge is how to deal with the most serious issues, how to communicate the world's ills without terrifying and creating utter despair while remaining honest.  

Might it be surprising that the dinner table conversation in my household can range from Constitutional violations to terrorism to national debt to the need for national health care to environmental challenges.

How do you explain 9/11 to a five-year old?

Well, as one actively working to help find (and shape) a path toward a sustainable and prosperous future, my challenge is often toward Global Warming and children.  

And, the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) has just put the Climate Classroom online.

Let's take a tour together ...

On initial pass through, Climate Classroom seems to offer quite valuable material, with sections for teachers, parents, and kids.  As they describe it:

ClimateClassroom.org helps educate children about global climate change in accurate, developmentally appropriate, and hopeful ways. Sections designed for parents and K-12 educators provide talking points, attractive visuals, instructional guidelines, and helpful resource links for investigating the topic with children. An additional section for school-age children offers quality learning experiences and realistic suggestions for becoming part of the global-warming solution.

The related Green Hour is a real joy -- thoughts and advice as to spending an hour outdoors, each day, as family with your children.  (Minor problem -- no instructions as to blogging while on a nature stroll with the kids.)

Back to Climate Classroom for a moment, here are five kids questions:

• What is Global Warming?
• What is the proof Global Warming is taking place?
• When did Global Warming start?
• Is it a really big deal?
• What can I do to solve the problem?

You know these are good questions (and the links above provide NWF's outlined answers -- pretty well done) and, as a Climate Project presenter, I've encountered questions like these in elementary school classrooms, from my children's friends, and from my kids.

But, come on, where are the real tough questions? Here are real ones that I've faced from young children in classroom presentations:

• Does Global Warming mean the world is going to burn up?
• How come the school uses styrofoam in the classroom?
• Why did you adults do this to us?
• Why are we killing all the animals?
• And, well, despite my attempts to be non-partisan in Global Warming presentations, the most frequent from the mounts of babes: How come George Bush is so stupid?

In fact, whether in presentations to classrooms or speaking with children, I strive to remain factual, to inform, to educate, but not to terrify, to inspire hope rather than incite horror.  It is a delicate line to maintain and Climate Classroom looks like it will be useful for that navigation challenge.

To be honest, however, this is a rather basic website at this time, we can exhaust the resources on the site itself quickly but we can expect that it will develop further.  For other Global Warming websites oriented toward children, see, for example, the EPA's Climate Change site (elementary school) and John Hopkins' EcoHealth101.

Bedtime Stories

Well, the diary title talks to bedtime stories. So, for a couple online available books, For a good cartoon book, there is Ozzy Ozone -- Defender of Our Planet (pdf).

There are an increasing number of books out there, such as Why are the ice caps melting?, Global Warming, and The Future of the Earth: An Introduction to Sustainable Development for Young Readers.

When it comes to an actual bedtime story for Global Warming, my favorite is Tore and Town on Thin Ice (pdf of the book) (available in five languages).   Is it because my kids will happily sit through it and ask questions? No.  But that is a definitely strong point.  Is it because the author, Carole Douglis, is a fellow Climate Project trainee?  No, but I always like opening a book written by a friend or acquaintance (even more if I enjoy it).  Is it because Senator Inhofe (R-Exxon) attacked it?  Okay, you've got me, an Inhofe attack is an indication of something worthwhile.

Ask yourself:  Are you doing your part to ENERGIZE AMERICA?

NOTES

• Consider joining the new, improved Daily Kos Environmentalists community / listserve.
• Are you coming to Yearly Kos?  There will be an EA2020 panel Saturday morning along with a session on using the blogsphere for policy development. And, an Energize America tour of Green Chicago Sunday afternoon (we hope)
• And ... of course, ENERGIZE AMERICA.

•  Tips / Mojo: 9 July 2007

  Now that LiveEarth has passed, what are you doing to ensure that Earth will be able to sustain human life into the indefinite future?

  by A Siegel on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:41:48 PM PDT

  •  get more rest

    I first read that as Ozzy Osborne -- Defender of Our Planet. I won't describe the images that created...

    Good diary, though.

    by wondering if on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 09:05:56 PM PDT

  •  In response to your question

    Our children are who we as individuals have the greatest lifelong effect. Lessons that are reinforced, day after day, year after year, are the lessons and behaviors that they carry for the remainder of their lives. A parent's ultimate wish is that their children's lives will be better than their own, yet it can't begin and end with comforts and security inside the four walls of home. The planet is their home too.

    I now have four children, and I had to explain 9/11 to two of them. One of them was at the time a 7-year old with Asperger's Syndrome. Some horrors are larger than our power to shield those who are most fragile. One of my proudest moments as a parent came late in the afternoon during the Live Earth event this weekend. The same child - now almost 13, is a big music fan. He and I have had lots of conversations about the environment and conservation within the home. He was asking me about why the concerts were being held, and I explained to him the purpose, and how the music was the vehicle to bring people to the television and computer, then be informed and compelled to some sort of action. I watched the light-bulb turned on in his head, he smiled, and said, "that's so cool".

    Thanks for this diary A S.

    by dsnodgrass on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 09:08:04 PM PDT

  •  I bought CFLS light bulbs

    Yeah, yeah...I know it seems a little thing. I thought so too before I watched all the Live Earth stuff.

    But, I already do not use plastic, so my home isn't contributing to the "Americans use 2 million plastic bottles each hour."

    My carbon footprint isn't so bad.

    Our... constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds. Thurgood Marshall

    by bronte17 on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 10:25:36 PM PDT

•  Empower the Little Kids

  Tell the children that global warming is a problem, but that it's a problem that can be solved. In fact, they can help out, too by helping out with energy conservation efforts. Be a good example, and don't buy an SUV.

  by BlueTide on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:46:03 PM PDT

  •  Absolutely ...

    Which is why, in an elementary school classroom, I'll speak to making sure the refrigerator is closed, the lights turned off when not in use, etc ... I ask them to imagine a huge pile of Lego. I ask them whether they could build something tall in five minutes alone. They tend to scream "yes". I then ask, well, if ten of you worked together, could you build something bigger than just one of you? Bigger YES.  I use this to point out that none of us, alone, can solve Global Warming, but all of our individual actions can, together, be something big.

    by A Siegel on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:50:00 PM PDT

    •  Great Job!

      They may be small, but if they could imagine a whole school of kids building something and then ten schools of kids building something, then they can build something really big.

      by BlueTide on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:54:54 PM PDT

    •  thats a good illustration of the idea

      it sounds like you can walk that fine line between informing kids and keeping fear from overtaking hope.

      by dotcommodity on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 10:49:05 PM PDT

•  Thank you for a great diary

  My grandkids are just about to the age of discussing things like this.  

  by cfk on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:47:28 PM PDT

•  I tell kids...

  "You should ask your parents about that."

  I'm hardly ever around one, though, so it hasn't come up. I am glad to know people are trying and I hope you're doing it right because I'm counting on the kids.

  by blueteam on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:47:36 PM PDT

  •  This is a difficult issue

    ... but I tend not to do this since so many people are ill-informed on this issue (and most energy issues).  But, I tread carefully.  At some point, I'll have the Denier calling to scream that their child should never hear that the Earth is more than 6000 years old.

    by A Siegel on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:59:48 PM PDT

•  Excellent, as always!

  I hope the David Vitter diary will simmer down enough for your diary to get the attention it deserves.  Sex usually outsells science.

  by Radiowalla on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:51:14 PM PDT

  •  Shucks ...

    now I'm going to have go look at that one.  :-) or, should it be:  :-(

    Thanks.

    by A Siegel on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 08:52:42 PM PDT

•  Great diary!

  My kids, who are in high school, don't need bedtime stories like you describe, but certainly appreciate going to the source. They're impressed with the obviousness of the impact. Global warming is never more obvious than in the Summer Arctic Ocean. As you probably know, I've diaried this before. 2007 continues to hold the record for the most melting, and the pace looks to be accelerating. My rough estimate places current melting 2.5 weeks ahead of the record 2005 pace and 3+ weeks ahead of the 2006 pace. When you consider that the 2005 melting was considered remarkable, 2007 makes the 2005 warming look like a spring fling! My back of the napkin guess is that we will get to an ice free or very low ice state sometime before 2010.

  My personal bad news for the evening is that it will cost 48K to get off the grid with solar. But then again, where I'm going, the money will only burn.

  by beobjective on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 09:25:24 PM PDT

  •  Please

    join DKos Environmentalists and send out those diaries.  

    by A Siegel on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 09:30:00 PM PDT

    •  Will do! But not tonight, it's too hot! : )

      by beobjective on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 09:48:58 PM PDT

•  Youth Rap Global Warming

  A video by Videosphere at
  http://energyvision.blogspot.com/...

  Videosphere produced the video last summer.  They start the second year of this program tomorrow.

  by gmoke on Mon Jul 09, 2007 at 10:31:21 PM PDT

•  I bookmarked this

  so I have a handy reference as this topic comes up again and again with my children. Thank You! Recommended!

  by vcmvo2 on Tue Jul 10, 2007 at 09:22:46 PM PDT