Henny-Penny and wondering if catastrophe is looming
World Has Less Than a Decade to Stop Catastrophic Warming, U.N. Panel Says
“One morning, as Henny-Penny was plucking worms in the henyard, an acorn dropped from a tree right onto her head! She had no idea what had hit her, however, and so she started shouting:
“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”
We often use the story of Chicken Little as a cautionary tale about overreaction and exaggeration. What is sometimes forgotten is that the story ends with Foxy Loxy enjoying a meal of fresh poultry!
Chatting about the weather is a common ice-breaker. For decades it was a perfectly safe and non-controversial topic. Our language is full of idioms that revolve around the weather. Folks have their heads in the clouds, they’re snowed under with work, or maybe they’re celebrating life on cloud nine!
For young people viewing the future though a more apt idiom might be the calm before the storm or feeling under the weather. And, when kids talk about the weather, they very often express misgivings about climate change, global warming and how it will have a dramatic impact on their future - which, in reality, is not far off!
This year, Earth Day falls on Saturday, April 22. Like many others, our Walden community believes that Earth Day is every day and this year’s theme, Invest in Our Planet, is an initiative to be embraced 24/7/365.
I have included a link at the conclusion of this post to direct you to tips for bringing Earth Day activities into your home and another link which provides a great publication that explains climate change for kids.
What I really hope you’ll do though is help us instil in our students and your kids how we can make a real difference with simple, consistent acts. Such as?
Planning on recognizing Easter with some chocolate? That’s great and you can make a difference here.
Chocolate is naturally free of animal products, and the higher the percentage of cacao (the darker the chocolate), the more likely it is to be dairy free. Double check the ingredients list to make sure that milk is absent. And to support better labour practices and farming methods, look for brands with labels like FAIRTRADE International, Fair Trade Certified, Equal Exchange, or Rainforest Alliance Certified.
Want to understand more about how your dietary choices affect our world? Foodprint calculators can help you understand how much your food choices impact the planet. Here’s a couple that your kids can use to learn what’s happening right around your breakfast table.
BBC Climate Change Food Calculator shows how your food intake compares to emissions of driving, heating a home and consuming water.
How Does Your Diet Contribute to Climate Change? The New York Times quiz allows you to choose common meals and beverages to see how your carbon foodprint compares to others.
At school, we’ll be undertaking special activities as well. And, because we are committed to making good people, we are committed to making a better world and to do that, we’re going to listen to Henny-Penny just a little because, in some ways, the sky is falling. We all can slow that down and we owe it to kids all over this little globe of ours to do our bit.
How will you contribute to positive change?
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/18/climate/climate-change-future-kids.html