It is a truth universally acknowledged that children are our hope for a better future. On World Environment Day (June 5) that sentiment could not be more compelling.
The good people at Rainforest Alliance are doing a fabulous job teaching children the importance of the rainforests. They even have an educational curriculum where they emphasise the need to stop cutting down trees and help children understand how essential the rainforests are for our survival.
We speak to some budding Ecophiles we know and kids from the Rainforest Alliance programme who talk about how they do their bit to protect the environment. The answers are delightful (also natural and unedited) and show that there’s hope yet for us after all.
Amelia Whent
Age 7, London, United Kingdom
I help animals by leaving them in peace and quite as well as loving them deerly. I love nature, forests and any other places with animals. Nature is very important so we have to keep it clean and fresh because we do not want are precious animals to die. There are other animals in the woods and forests like ants. I love ants because they tickle me when I pick one up ants are also so qute exept for mean red and orange ants.
Amelia Whent. Photo: Colette Whent
Nandini Tyagi
Age 8, Delhi, India
We have been learning about environment at school. My teacher said “Saving the environment should be “feeling” and not a “to-do”. I feel that I can do my bit by saving electricity and water – switching off lights, not letting the water run while brushing or wasting water while in a shower and planting more trees in our building complexes. these are small things but every little thing counts. Our environment is a no occasion gift to us and we must preserve and treasure it. I have started doing my bit and I hope all my friends will do too.
Nandini Tyagi. Photo: Shriti K Tyagi
Reed Miller
Age 10, Jacksonville, Florida
After studying the Rainforest Alliance’s environmental curriculum:
I want to try to bike or walk different places instead of going in a car. Just doing little things like turning off the lights or recycling can make a big difference.
Reed Miller. Photo David Dudenhoefer
Arjun Amin
Age 9, Oakland, USA
Arjun has started his own charity. He makes BIRDDAY Cards, and all the proceedings go towards the protection of endangered species:
The Earth is our home. We’ve done lots of damage to it in the past 200 years. Now it is time to create awareness and learn from our mistakes. I help endangered species by drawing cards and raising money for their protection. My website is www.birddayart.com. Each one of us can do our bit. What will you do?
Arjun Amin. Photo: Ami Desai
Kevin Daniel
Age 10, Jacksonville, Florida
After a river clean-up that was part of the Rainforest Alliance’s environment curriculum:
Well, we should keep the river clean because we want it to look beautiful and not full of litter and polluted stuff. It’s also home to lots of other animals like fish and turtles, and we don’t want to disturb them because they are not even disturbing us.
Kevin Daniel. Photo: David Dudenhoefer
Aameya & Myrah Sial
Age 10 years & 6 years, Mumbai, India
Aameya: Saving the environment is an important step in our lives. Like when I go to the beach, I expect to see a clean beach but people throw garbage into the sea, which the waters throws out onto the sand, polluting it. It is a very disappointing scene. Green parks are supposed to be green and beautiful, but garbage, plastic bags and juice cans and bottles destroy the beauty and greenery of the parks.
But I may be able to do something. There was a boy who ate a lollipop and threw the wrapper on the grass, I went to him but I didn’t scold him, he was just four. I told him about how one person could change the environment. After that he went and threw the wrapper in the garbage bin. So I will change and try to help everyone in saving nature. So forget the past and rethink the present for a better and greener future.”
Myrah, just 6 years old, wrote a story emphasizing how important it is not to litter:
A BAD BOY
Once there was a boy he was throwing garbage on the road. The next day the road was smelling and the rats came to eat the garbage. He felt very ashamed of himself. He got an idea he will clean it all up. He started cleaning, then he finished, everybody praised him, the road was clean again.
Aameya and Myrah Sial
Rishabh Sharma
Age 9, Houston, Texas
I care about the earth and the environment because we would not have natural resources. Some examples of natural resources are wood, water, sunlight, crops, and air. I also care about all plants and all animals. Without them, we would have to live without medicine, food, and we would have shortage of air. Animals have meat and give us dairy and other products that we use to make medicine. Plants give us most of our products for medicine and give us oxygen. Without plants and animals, we wouldn’t be alive. All of nature has a special part.
I would personally protect earth and make it better by planting, not polluting, not littering, conserve some energy (like turning the water faucet off), and spread the word. Many species of plants and animals are becoming endangered because of how we are treating them. We are burning forests and cutting down trees, resulting in destruction of plants and animal’s shelter. When primary consumers go, then the food chain will be destroyed leaving all of us dead.
To protect animals and plants, I would recycle: reduce: reuse, make wild life homes, stop polluting, feed animals and plants. I would NEVER dump chemicals in anything or throw anything outside of a trash can or recycling can. We can turn off the lights after using them, throw paper, glass, or and cardboard in green cans, and have 5-10 minute showers. I would help plants grow by using fertilizer. I would never use chemicals on plants or animals, and never litter. As I am spreading the word, I hope you’ll help your own environment too.
Yana and Rishabh. Photo: Yasmin Sharma
Braulio Antonio de la Chavez
Age 8, El Porvenir School, Guatemala
It’s important to protect the forests because it gives us shade and oxygen. My favourite thing about the forest is the animals. Don’t cut down the trees! Don’t throw them away.
Braulio. Photo: Sergio Izquierdo
Ervin Maqz Manuel
Age 12, at El Porvenir School, Guatemala
After studying the Rainforest Alliance’s environmental curriculum:
It’s good to protect the forest because it gives us oxygen to breathe, pure oxygen, and also because that’s how we can care for the birds and the animals.
Ervin painting Earth Day Murals. Photo: Sergio Izquierdo
Gabriela Margarí Ramirez
Age 10, El Porvenir School, Guatemala
Don’t cut down the trees, because they give us shade, and because the animals will die. It’s important to protect forests because there are animals, and the trees give us shade, and if we burn the forests, the animals will die.
Gabriela. Photo: Sergio Izquierdo
Check out Rainforest Alliance’s lovely Kids’ Corner for inspiration and ways to engage your child with nature. If you would like your child to be featured or if they’re doing something inspiring, tell us! Mail us at [email protected] and spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.