Global Engage

Earth Day was coming and throughout the month students and teachers from fourth grade wondered what could we do to make of this a memorable day, where everybody was involved and we could send a message that lasted and brought up actions that can help our planet.

Every day we hear people say that pollution is making people sick, plants growing slow, species disappearing from the planet, but do we really know what pollution is? Which gases and toxins are hurting us? We decided to talk about this and as we learned, the rest of the students could learn as well. That is how we presented a play where the worst pollutants made very clear how they harm the environment. “I make it hard for some people to breathe. And I can make trees and other plants grow more slowly. But here's the most rotten thing I do: When I get way up into the air, I react with oxygen in water in the sky, and that is how you get acid rain!” all this is caused by sulphur dioxide. “We can make people's lungs hurt when they breathe-- especially people who already have asthma, and, like sulphur dioxide, we react with water in the air and form acid rain”. This is just one part all the trouble caused by the nitros. One more time we faced the awful truth, the problem comes from us but nobody takes responsibility. However, it is in our hands to do something. No matter where we are, there are small things that can turn into big ones and make a huge difference. No more words, action is the next step!

We also thought of something where each student in elementary could express himself and commit to help our planet. This is how students wrote small things we can do at home, school, anywhere we go. It took time but at the end, we were holding hands around a big, green leaf, letting everyone know we care and we are ready to start doing something.

April was a busy month. We also had activities in the classroom that led students to reflect on the environment and how we refused to believe that we could run out of resources nature provided us with. We heard many voices; children expressed their concerns about our planet´s situation “future doesn’t look good” somebody said. “We must be aware of what we still have and what we have lost. This planet is for future generations and we are destroying most of it. Nature is fragile and it is in our hands to do something now. We don´t need to wait for big companies to start. At home, at school, on the street, each one of us is responsible for this, our home”. These are the words of Santiago Gutiérrez a student in fourth grade and a child who teaches us about the beauty of our planet and each creature that lives in it. At the end of the month, we felt we had a life time experience. We got to know our planet more, we shared with other kids what we know and what we can do, we expressed ourselves and let others know how we can help, we felt happy for what we have, but we also feel time is passing by and with it our time to save our home, this fantastic planet called Earth.