Reducing in the New Year

The new year promises to be greener than the last. A quick web search brings up a host of curriculum materials teaching students how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. But is that enough?

In a speech about his Cradle to Cradle design approach, William McDonough said if we don’t work to change our environmental policies and ways of doing business, No Child Left Behind will tragically be a reality.

So what can we as educators do? First, we need to emphasize the reduce segment of the three Rs. It is important to teach children to keep from adding to the waste stream by becoming thoughtful consumers. We can do this by modeling our own three Rs – reason, restraint, and responsibility. Encourage children to think before buying. Teach them to ask themselves these questions.

• Do I really need it?
• Did I see it on TV?
• What will happen to it after I’m done?

Another idea is to examine the packaging the item comes in. Pretend the item costs $10 and count out 10 ones. Then take a dollar and throw it in the trash. Talk about how we throw away this much of each item as packaging.

Granted, it is more difficult to teach children about reducing because it is a more abstract idea. But solving our environmental issues will not be easy. Starting early to encourage children to be responsible consumers is a good beginning.