This morning, David, an old family friend in his eighties, shared with me a childhood story of growing silk worms.

As a little boy, he would gather a pile of mulberry leaves, stuff them into a shoe box, and hide half a dozen small caterpillars beneath the foliage.

The creatures were the object of fascination for David as a little boy. He would marvel at the caterpillars’ ravenous appetites as they devoured box after box of mulberry leaves.

With every mouthful, the caterpillars grew fatter. Eventually the little critters grew thicker than David’s thumb. When the caterpillars were fat and happy, it was time for a wondrous process of change.

The creatures would weave – as if from magic – cocoons made of silk, bundles of softness within which they would hide. They would enter as caterpillars, and within a couple of weeks emerge, transformed, into silkworm moths.

Silkworms, like many insects, go through four stages of development: egg, larva, pupa and adult.  The caterpillar is the larva stage, the pupa is the stage the worm enters when housed within its cocoon, while the adult stage is the silkworm moth. In the larva stage, silkworms are soft-bodied, slow moving caterpillars. They shed their skin more than four times as they grow to some 3 inches long, ready to cocoon, within as little as a month. Indeed, some growers talk of aligning with the lunar cycles to ensure maximum growth.

In reflecting on the humble silkworm, I recall my friend, William, a little boy I went to school with in Australia. He grew silkworms and brought his “magic shoe-box” into class for “show and tell”. It was fascinating as a child to watch the transformation of these creatures over time. I remember stroking the chubby caterpillars and marvelling at how soft and squishy they were before they each disappeared into their cocoons, never to be seen in that form again.

Of course, the story of the silkworm is not an entirely romantic vision. Whilst the creature originates in Asia and weaves a cocoon made of fine, strong, lustrous fibre – the source of commercial silk – the silkworm is a popular food source for domestic reptiles and amphibians.

Today, the silkworm has been domesticated out of natural existence. It only lives in captivity and no longer survives without human care. All wild populations are extinct. This is not least because the moth has, over centuries of human relationship, lost its ability to fly. The silkworm’s dietary reliance on mulberry leaves might also contribute to its demise in the wild.

Even though it is exploited for commercial interest, the humble silkworm has much more than silk to offer. As an adult, I’ve often reflected on how such a simple thing as observing the life cycle of an insect can provide wonder and imagination for young minds. The silkworm is a case in point. It provides children with a window into the natural world, a sense of wonder at the transformational capacity of nonhuman life…and all within the curious world of a leaf-filled, caterpillar feeding, silk-weaving, and child-enticing “magic shoe-box”.

Once upon a time, exemplary education involved an “expert” imparting words of wisdom upon the passive student who simply listened to, and processed new information and ideas.

Dissemination was the key to learning, and learning happened by default. Thankfully, the world of education has changed…at least in principle.

Today, amid increased awareness of the importance of education in social change for sustainability, learners are now viewed as active participants in their own development (and the development of their local communities).

Today, educators need to be facilitators more-so than the traditional “sage on stage”.

Within environmental education for sustainability, the focus has moved from a teaching to a learning process – the pursuit of development that not only enhances a person’s awareness, knowledge and skills, but also their participation and decision-making in social change. In so doing, the goal is to shift people’s attitudes and behaviours toward increased environmental and community responsibility through enhanced experiential learning (and not merely the sharing of information).

When an environmental education project within a local community is viewed from a community development perspective, the success of the project is contingent on a number of social factors. A critical factor is the educator’s ability to operate as a strong facilitator.  As Les Robinson & Andreas Glanznig allude to in Enabling Eco-Action (2003), an effective facilitator mediates social difference. They bring people together in a spirit of unity. They create experiences that motivate people to question, discover and learn. An effective facilitator inspires people to act.

In their role as facilitator, an environmental educator is therefore an “enabler” or “animateur”. They do not merely spout words of wisdom in the hope that people will absorb information that magically transforms their behaviour. Instead, the educator / facilitator “animates” (or activates) learning, they “enable” (or make possible) opportunities for the expression of collective wisdom and self-directed action. In this sense, the environmental educator (as a facilitator) applies exemplary people skills as well as ecological knowledge.

Putting people in the picture is essential to effective environmental and sustainability education. Raising awareness about environmental issues and technical solutions is not enough to effect social change. The word “social” is the key. “Social” change demands that educators recognise and support human beings as social animals. It demands that communities marshal their collective wisdom and action. This action becomes meaningful and increasingly sustainable when people – facilitators and community members alike – collaborate toward a shared goal.  Whilst the word “empowerment” proliferates personal development books, within the context of social change “empowerment” is seldom particular to individuals. It derives from people working in unison to achieve a mutually beneficial vision.

Educators who specialise in environmental sustainability play a vital role in empowering, enabling, and animating local communities toward social change. To this end, it’s critical that educators operate as facilitators. We do more than share valuable information; we create and share experiences that engage people in a whole new way of seeing and being in the world.

The droughts that severely affected the Midwest United States are not to be considered a novelty, say meteorologists.

We are not be re-assured that a wetter 2013 constitutes a reversal in the weather changes that saw dry weather kill off agriculture last year, since variations in temperature not caused by one factor.

Namely, the El Nina and La Nina cycle plays an important role in regulating the world’s temperature changes, with some climate change sceptics arguing that these changes disprove man-made global warming.

Scientists have been quick to respond by warning areas such as the Mid-west not to interpret a return to normal weather as a sign that global warming has disappeared or is no longer a threat.

Global warming is measured in terms of average rise in temperature, and this measurement must be taken over a considerable period of time. Much like evolution, the true extent of change cannot be seen unless one ‘looks at the macro’. Environmental campaigners are worried that a return to normal weather may rain on their parade, dousing the recently heightened awareness of the threat of climate change. The multifaceted nature of the world’s climatic cycle means it is rarely predictable and therefore any comparisons from year to year are of little scientific use.

Scientists monitoring increase in overall levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are keen to point out that this damage coagulates around certain areas of the globe. Were Mid-west America to have a perfectly normal (in historical terms) weather pattern in 2013, this would not change the extent of climate change and its threat to humanity.

Countries such as those located around the equator, particularly in Africa and Southern Asia, would still continue to suffer from a rise in carbon dioxide. In this light, climate education must take a global approach.

Residents of Nebraska cannot interpret a reversal of their fortunes as a reversal in climate change, rather, the affects of global warming on other parts of the world continue. The West’s role in contributing to this damage can be difficult to demonstrate due to the vast geographic distances involved.

Yet awareness as to where and how pollution emitted in America and Europe forms is vital to ensuring that a good crop season in a former dust-bowl is not mistaken as good scientific evidence against the threat of global warming.

The observance of Earth Day began in the U.S. in 1970 as a way for individuals to gather in response to the growing interest in a national environmental movement.

Escalating concerns for ecological awareness in both the personal and political arenas were amplified by many during this time.

A bit of history from The Old Farmer’s Almanac recounted that proactive John McConnell from California and Gaylord Nelson, then Senator of Wisconsin, both opened the gates for exchange in their local areas. They initiated people to gather together in order to demonstrate their unity over environmental issues.

The spring equinox on March 21 and April 22, 1970 both became key dates and now still represent the millions that came together on that initial Earth Day.

Currently, over 1 billion people from nearly 192 countries take part in Earth Day activities which, according to Earthday.org, makes it the world’s largest public display.

Commonly focused on in many places on April 22, this customarily is a day for earth friendly events like volunteering to pick up litter, planting tree parties and recycling exhibits.

Earth Day Network was created by the first Earth Day’s original team of planners and is now preparing for its 43^rd environmental focused event. Their theme this year is the Face of Climate Change on a global scale. Earthday.org is collecting photos from around the world centering on climate change and will digitally showcase them in honor of the reverential day on their site. The images will be shown online as well as at thousands of Earth Day happenings.

For kids and emerging readers, Scholastic has organized a few snapshots of Earth Day celebrations around the world. With a focus on reading and including audio and word pronunciations, children can listen and learn how others participate in environmentally focused events.

While Earth Day is only one mark on the calendar, the grand demonstrations of past events and scheduled future endeavors are a reminder that each day adds up. Though individual efforts may at first seem small, when amplified by many the green movement continues to cultivate.

Image: Scholastic: © Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Image

Environmental education (EE) provides opportunities for students to learn in natural environments.

Instead of sitting in classrooms listening to teachers talk, children in EE programs participate in hands-on activities at local rivers, city parks, urban gardens, and other natural spaces.

EE teachers use the features of natural environments to teach science, math, language arts, social studies, history, and other subjects. Instead of imparting facts in isolation, EE situates learning within the context of real-world places and issues to make it meaningful for students. Fresh air and exercise are added bonuses.

Research summarized by the Place-Based Education Evaluation Cooperative has shown that environmental education can provide significant academic and behavioral benefits.

For example, the Pacific Education Institute’s Environmental Education Assessment Project, which encompassed more than 150 schools, found that EE programs increased scores on standardized tests in math, reading, and writing.  EE students were also more likely to stay in school, receive large scholarships, and behave more responsibly within their schools and communities.

The State Education and Environment Roundtable’s California Student Assessment Project  also found that EE increased test scores in multiple subjects, reduced disciplinary problems, improved attendance, and increased enthusiasm and engagement.

According to a report by the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation, students in EE programs tend to outperform their peers in similar schools that do not incorporate EE, and these effects are seen even in the most impoverished schools.

EE can be adapted for all subjects and grade levels.

For young children, a garden might be used to teach simple math skills by having students count flowers or identify shapes.

Teachers of older students can plan a garden to teach mathematics (determining the layout using geometry), science (discovering what various plants need to thrive), language arts (writing about the garden), and history and social studies (growing crops that native peoples traditionally grew to learn about historical lifestyles).

For a creative teacher, the possibilities are limitless.

If biodiversity – the proliferation of life on Earth, the totality of plants and animals and micro-organisms – is already being radically diminished through human activities, what impact will climate change have on ecosystems and species around the world?

There is growing agreement amongst conservation biologists and ecologists of the intimate connection between concerns about biodiversity loss and concerns about climate change.

To this point, habitat destruction, introduced species, over-population and consumption, pollution and over-exploitation have been the key culprits for loss of species world-wide.

According to Robert May (cited in Planet Earth: The Future (what the experts say)), these threats are now “being compounded by changes, not of our direct destruction of the habitat, but of global climate change… you can measure with good documentation bird ranges changing, fish distributions changing, flowering seasons changing” (2006, p58).

The climate change challenge for non-human species is that many organisms cannot move fast enough naturally to cope with climatic changes, whilst others are unable to move through intervening territories (read human intervention in the landscape) to sites of safe haven.

Robert May offers the Amazon as an example.

Large areas of the rainforest depend on high levels of precipitation to sustain the natural ecosystems. But if climate change alters those precipitation patterns, the Amazon is in even more trouble than already reeked through human activity. Such impacts in turn feedback to climate change, and so a vicious cycle of loss takes hold.

According to Thomas Lovejoy in Planet Earth (2006, p.58): “Climate change is probably a bigger threat than almost everything else we’re doing to life on Earth combined. If you really look at what happens under natural climate change and then try to imagine how it would happen today in these highly modified landscapes, which are basically obstacle courses, we’re setting up a huge wave of extinctions.”

In other words, humans have so radically altered the landscape that it prohibits the movement of creatures (from the Emerald Tree Boa to the harmless Sloth) attempting to adapt to climate change.

Even without the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss can be a depressing topic to consider.

Personally, I’ve experienced the heart-ache, the deep gut-wrenching emotional pain that accompanies environmental grief. Climate change exacerbates the horror of an already distressing cycle of human greed and complacency. And it can be only too easy to fall into a state of unyielding despair. But for my own part, I’ve tried to convert that pain and grief into something constructive. Instead of getting stuck in a sense of hopelessness, I’ve endeavoured to transform the negative emotions into passion, an unrelenting commitment to help put right what is clearly wrong in the world.

Instinctively, I know that we cannot persuade people to change their behaviour by communicating through guilt and fear and anger. This simply does not work. Negativity can only take us so far – and that’s not very far at all.

As Jonathon Porrit says: “Ultimately, we have to find a way of connecting people into the positive energy behind sustainability, behind environmentalism. And that means that while we continue to pay witness to the terrible damage that we’re doing, we’ve got to turn people’s minds towards more positives images of the good that we can still do to help protect the natural world” (cited in Planet Earth, 2006, p.212)

So despite the challenges of climate change and the unthinking, unhelpful, unhinged things that human beings do within the natural world, we must look forward – with hope and passion and commitment – toward the personal and collective action that can heal our world and mend our broken hearts.

The choices we make in our home and in our lives will forever affect our children and all of the following generations. Here are a few ideas for ways to help your child be more environmentally aware.

1. Toy Swaps: Children outgrow their toys quickly. In order to reduce waste and save a little money in the process, set up periodic toy swaps. Parents and their children can take old and unwanted toys to swap out for newer, more age-appropriate toys. If you can’t do a toy swap, find a consignment toy shop in your area. It is better for toys to be reused than to keep producing new toys.

2. Green Birthday Parties: Children’s birthday parties create a lot of waste. Usually used items include:  paper plates, plastic utensils, balloons, party favors, invitations, and wrapping paper. Try sending invites by email, text messaging or by making phone calls. Use reusable plates and utensils. If possible, get creative with decorations and party favors.

3. Grow a Garden Together: One great way to teach sustainability to your child is by growing a garden with them. It can be a great bonding experience and a science lesson. Most importantly, it will set an example and hopefully form a new habit which will influence our environment.

4. Set an Example: Kids develop habits early on based on what they see and experience. Set an example by eliminating the use of products like paper or plastic bags and paper plates. Use environmentally safe cleaning products, start biking instead of driving, and buy local or recycled products. Explain to your children why you make the decisions you do and hopefully they will use the same thought process in their daily lives.

5. Make Music: Use household items to make musical instruments. An old cereal box and a few rubber bands can make a great guitar. Old coffee containers can make a cool set of drums. Some toilet paper rolls filled with beans and closed off with wax paper held by rubber bands make wonderful shakers.

6. Unplug: By reducing the amount of energy we use can make a big difference. Explain to your children the impact of their television watching and computer use on the environment. As an alternative, sit down and read books together. Color, play a board game or go outside. Keep your children active and creative so that they won’t rely on electricity for entertainment.

7. Play Games: View the links below with your child. They include video games and more fun activities which teach environmental awareness.

http://www.kidsbegreen.org/
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/kids/
http://www.epa.gov/students/index.html

Action for sustainability doesn’t just happen once someone knows something they didn’t know before. Despite the fact that many environmental education and communication programs focus on the delivery of information, there is significant research to indicate that awareness alone is not enough to compel behaviour change.

“Research in the field of environmental education and in commercial marketing has shown that there is no cause-and-effect progression from knowledge to attitude to behaviour as educators have long believed” (Martha Moore, Brian Day, and Mona Grieser, Environmental Education and Communication for a Sustainable World, GreenCom, 2000).

Just because we know the costs and benefits of our actions doesn’t necessarily translate into personal changes. Sometimes – many times – despite knowing what to do to improve our sustainability, we continue to perpetuate damaging behaviours.

As Les Robinson and Andreas Glanznig state in Enabling EcoAction (2003): “There is obviously much more to the ecology of personal change than merely possessing knowledge”.

As environmental educators and communicators, we need to focus our efforts toward clearly defined actions that inspire behaviour-change in our audiences / participants / local communities. Environmental education can no longer be simply about information download.

If (as research suggests) there is no cause-and-effect progression from knowledge to attitudes to action, the relationship between these factors is a bit of a mystery. Some fields of study (such as explorations in “cognitive dissonance”) suggest that the opposite progression may occur. In other words, actions may help to form attitudes, which then stimulate the seeking of knowledge (Leon Festinger and James Carlsmith, Cognitive Consequences of Forced Compliance, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1959, Vol. 58, pg. 203, cited in Robinson & Glanznig, 2003).

Is it possible that actions can be both the means and end to personal and social change?

Either way, as Robinson & Glanznig (2003) highlight, the benefits of promoting specific actions for sustainability are threefold:

• People can make a real different to the natural environment through their actions
• People can measure and observe the benefits and impacts of their actions
• People can learn quickly and efficiently through their actions

Combined, these factors point toward clear outcomes for action-focused environmental education. As educators and communicators, when we promote and facilitate experiential learning, we enable a powerful tool for social change:  learning by doing.  

The Vicarious by Nature collection of fashionable, organic & eco-conscious contemporary clothing will be on show on March 8, 2012 at the Attire to Inspire fashion show as part of Los Angeles fashion week.

Founded in 2007 by Robb Hanson & Devon Craychee, Vicarious by Nature (VBN) is an eco-contemporary clothing line that fosters the ideals of quality and style with a “naturally” conscious approach. They aim to be forward thinking environmentally, while still being fashion forward.

Attire to Inspire, Breathe LA‘s second annual charity fashion show, will be held at the Conga Room in downtown Los Angeles. Other eco conscious designers featured in the show are Yotam Solomon and Moods of Norway.

Breathe LA is a non-profit organization committed to improving lung health and air quality for Los Angeles area residents. Breathe LA serves as a clean air and healthy living advocate and is recognized for its educational series and wellness programs including environmental education, asthma control for children and groundbreaking research.