Teach children about the environment and challenges it faces

The raison d’etre of schools is the education of children which involves teaching them more than numeracy and literacy skills.

With a responsibility to educate future leaders, schools should expose children to environmental awareness from an early age. The general state of filth in our country necessitates an awareness of environmental challenges the world is experiencing, such as climate change, deforestation, droughts, floods and pollution among others.

An understanding of these issues will lead to an alteration of attitudes that will contribute to the conservation of the environment. Schools are supposed to lead the conversation on environmental awareness. They need to introduce the 3Rs – which refer to reduce waste, reuse resources and recycle materials.

Teachers have a special role to play by setting a good example such as picking up litter even if it is not theirs. It is said that if current trends in climate change continue, temperatures could increase by between 3 and 6 degrees Celsius by 2050.

This would lead to water shortages for billions of people, reduce agricultural outputs and lead to poverty which would result in an increase in malnutrition-related deaths by millions and lead to the extinction of a large part of the animal species.

In his book, A Life on Our Planet, English environmental guru and broadcaster, David Attenborough, writes: “This is the tragedy of our time: the spiraling decline of our planet’s biodiversity. For life to truly thrive on this planet there must be immense biodiversity.

"Only when billions of different individual organisms make the most of every resource and opportunity they encounter, and millions of species lead lives that interlock so that they can sustain each other, can the planet run efficiently. The greater the biodiversity, the more secure will be all life on Earth, including ourselves. Yet the way we humans are now living on Earth is sending biodiversity into a decline.”

One of the ways individuals accelerate this decline is through the revolting practice of littering, which implies the careless and improper disposal of trash. This can be in the form of sweet wrappers, plastic wrappers, bottles, chewed gum and cigarette butts, to name a few.

Littering pollutes our environment and significantly diminishes the use, enjoyment and value of our public places, making our communities appear dirty and uncared for, unpleasant to be in, and less likely to be used and enjoyed.

Some of the dangers of littering include the strong likelihood of it being washed into rivers, polluting waterways and ocean environments. This can be a cause of great harm and suffering to animals that get tangled in, injured or swallow littered items, along with enabling the spread of disease and pests.

Cigarette butts contain substances like arsenic, which can contaminate both soil and water. Stormwater drains can be blocked, which can cause urban flooding. Marine wildlife can be severely affected when plastic, mistaken for food, is consumed. The animals end up dying excruciating deaths when they cannot digest what they consumed due to reduced stomach capacities.

Schools should become environmental champions by advocating positive attitudes towards the environment. Pupils should be taught not to throw waste out of moving cars which, besides being disgusting, can also cause road accidents. Rather, waste should be kept inside the car until it can be disposed in the appropriate bin.

Clean-up campaigns can be organised where pupils work together to keep their school clean and inculcate a sense of ownership, which will deter them from spoiling their laudable efforts. It should be impressed upon pupils that where there is litter, there is filth and where there is filth, there is disease.

Exposure to germs can lead to outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhoid if the litter gets into water sources.  Litter also affects the aesthetic value of surroundings and local tourism suffers, which results in fewer jobs. Stiff penalties should be meted out to those who violate anti-litter laws. It is also important to put up stop-litter signs to nip the littering problem in the bud.

This is because once litter collect in a place, people tend to throw their own litter at the same spot, thus compounding the problem. Education can mitigate the littering issue when people are educated about the need for proper waste disposal. Studies show that litter can be reduced by half through educational campaigns.

To raise awareness about environmental issues, lessons about the environment should be included in the curriculum. This will have a ripple effect when the pupils share their environmental knowledge with their friends and families. 

This will ensure that we restore the aesthetic value of our cities and towns and ensure a better state of health for our populations and hopefully save our planet from extinction.