admin Thinking back to my view of the future, one where technology continues to improve and change and almost takes over our everyday life, I can still see a positive outcome for humanity and my place in it. In my life, I plan to be an educator. I want to pass on information of all sorts to younger generations so that they can incorporate it into their lives and plans for their future. I mainly would like to teach about the conservation of our planet and show that the technology we have been given can be used for good in many ways. I want to be able to instill in these kids that they can make an impact, no matter how small they may think an action such as river clean up or reducing food waste if we build a stronger community around improving our conservation efforts, big changes can be made.
I believe in addition to teaching about the environment and conservation efforts, we can instill in the younger generation that they have the capability to make a change. World politics can seem daunting and disheartening, especially when they make choices based on the dollar rather than the good of mankind, but change is never out of the question no matter how much the system tries to keep people complicit with the way things are.
The technology that is currently available and will continue to make itself available to us can contribute to the education and effort towards the conservation and restoration of our Earth. Alternative energy, wildlife monitoring technology, electric vehicles, improved public transportation, and fake meat are just some of the many advancements we have made that can show a big change in our carbon footprint. Teaching kids about the positive effects these changes have made and will continue to make is an important part of informing younger generations about awareness of the Earth’s fragile ecosystem. I have taught at a conservation camp in the past, and there are many fun ways to get kids interested and involved without too much doom and gloom about the environment. Younger kids can do lighter activities surrounding the small changes they can make in their everyday lives, and go on trips to help clean up pollution or attend classes to learn about environmentally forward technology. Older kids can involve themselves in a more action-driven program, working with adults they can start creating changes in the communities they live in such as petitioning to switch to renewable energy at their school, or starting a zero-waste program at their cafeteria. Older kids and teens could even learn how to alert politicians and owners of businesses of ways they could change laws or improve conservation efforts. Kids need to know that they are capable of making change, there are things they can control, and they can even aspire to contribute to the growth of the technology I mentioned previously, thinking of ideas and solutions we may not yet have discovered.
Many camps and organizations do this currently, but I hope to work in a field like this in the future because I don’t see the need for education about the conservation of our Earth going anywhere anytime soon. It will be important to keep learning about new environmental and conservation techniques that will continue to surface as time goes on. I know the cheesy saying “The children are the future” is overdone, but it rings true. Children will always need teachers no matter what the world looks like, and if they can learn about how to continue improving the health of our planet, I believe that is an important job to pass on the hope and passion to work towards a better future for us all. I hope to inspire kids to keep positive and know that systems can change, and we can be the ones to make that change.
