GOING THE DISTANCE

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION THRIVES DURING AT-HOME LEARNING

By: Camille Sowinski, JD

I’ve been in the environmental education field in North County for over a decade and I’m one of the lucky ones who is fortunate enough to have a job doing what I love and working with a great team at my company, BCK Programs, as well as working with students in classrooms all across the county.

The school closures in mid-March impacted ALL of our programs at ALL of our schools. No more composting, no more recycling, no more energy conservation, no more air pollution lessons…… You get the drift.

At BCK, we really wanted to continue but we had many considerations to think about. We asked ourselves how in the world could we keep our programs going during the admittedly rocky shift that schools were making to distance learning and more importantly - SHOULD WE - there seemed like so much more to worry about in the moment.

Because the timing of the COVID school closures coincided with many Spring Break schedules AND we were all asked to stay home - school districts had lots of kids with NOTHING to do. That’s when we decided to dig into all of our curriculum and create specific activities for students that would keep them engaged and doing meaningful work but also making sure they stayed close to home. You can only go on so many walks.

We created a sustainability challenge for one school district chalk full of activities in celebration of “Earth Month.” For another school district, we created virtual outdoor gardens and classrooms to continue all the progress we made during the school year. We provided eco-lessons at every opportunity.

Just when students began to settle into distance learning for the remainder of the school year we began to receive their responses to our programming and it was a true turning point for our team. It started with an at home composting activity at one house, then another student made a rain gauge out recycled materials, another student located drought tolerant plants in his neighborhood.

And the creativity grew - one student wrote an original song titled “Hey Stop Pollution,” complete with ukulele accompaniment.

Next a team of students collaborated via ZOOM to create a PSA about the harms of improper PPE disposal (masks and gloves are ending up in the ocean!) and another one created a tutorial on how to create a waste free lunch.

Our students in Hawaii made an instagram account and posted a green action every day with links to resources.

We even maintained one of the cornerstones of our programs - public speaking. With students’ masterful use of Zoom, their voices were heard at many school board, rotary club and city council meetings.

So right here is where our team realized we were accomplishing an important environmental education goal. Of course we want to help guide the next generation of environmental stewards -and, of course we want students to be the catalyst for big changes at their school sites. But if we are being really honest - we want our students to take home what they learn at school and influence the behavior of their friends, neighbors and especially their parents. If we are trying to redirect this climate change ship - we need all hands on deck.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a heartbreaking reality that has impacted every part of everyday life. But one thing this virus has forced us to do is think outside the box for the things we want to passionately preserve. Our goal as environmental educators is to reach as many people as possible - by changing up the way we reach students we are able to involve whole families and neighborhoods. We are grateful to have at least one positive emerge from all that has happened.

To learn more about BCK Programs, visit: https://www.bckprograms.com/