Have Your Say!!!!

You have heard, studied and are probably doing many things in your life to help reduce our impact on our environment. What else can you do?? The answer is ADVOCACY!

Advocacy is defined as taking active support of a cause, especially to argue for something. This means that you try and change other peoples' point of view and how they treat the environment.

What would environmental advocacy look like? You can make change by setting an example in your own life (recycling, energy conservation at home, riding your bike or walking to school, etc), by talking about issues with your friends and family or by making bigger changes such as joining an environmental club where together your voices can make a difference. Writing letters to other people that can make a difference in your community can help too. What about writing your thoughts to your school, the local newspaper, your MPP or MP?

Do you think you are too young to make a difference? Definitely not! Students have the ability to make big differences in the world around them. For example, Severn Cullis-Suzuki is one of Canada's most well-known environmental and social justice youth activists. When she was just nine years old she and some friends started the Environmental Children's Organization. They wanted to educate themselves and others about environmental issues. In 1992, when she was 12 years old, Severn delivered a powerful speech to political representatives at the very first United Nations Earth Summit. In her speech to the UN, Severn appealed to the delegates - "If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!". You can watch this video by clicking on the YouTube video link located on the lower right bar of this blog. Or you can read an interview with Severn on The Great Warming website.

You can read more stories about students who have made a difference like Taylor Boyd, a grade five student at Maurice Cody Public School in Toronto, and Craig Kielburger who founded the human rights organization "Free the Children" when he was only 12 years old. Read about them in the "Budding Activists" article at TVOParents.com.

You can also read about what students and teachers have done that demonstates activism in their schools called in an article called "Everyday Environmental Activism".

Have your say!!! If you have done many of the activities on this blog, or have had discussions and/or activities in your classroom, you probably have opinions on things that you see happening around you on a daily basis. Would you like to see some things changed? Who could you talk to about it? What would you say to back your argument? Do you have ideas to respond if others don't agree with you?

Your challenge: on your own or with a friend, write a letter or make a presentation to persuade someone to change something you think could help our environment. You must present and defend your point of view. This could be something as simple as convincing your school mates about the benefits of walking to school to reduce air pollution and conserve energy, to writing to your government representative to change laws about the use of pesticides or air pollution.

The sky is the limit!

Teachers: This activity ties in with the language curriculum for all grades, though it would lend itself more for the junior and intermediate level. Specific expectations: Writing: purpose and audience, developing/organizing ideas, research, voice, point of view. It can be adapted to the grade level and focus on oral presentation, written work or media literacy.

Cross curricular connections: Grade 7 Geography Natural Resources: Present and defend a point of view on how a resource should be used