EcoKids: Raising Children Who Care for the Earth

Front Cover
New Society Publishers, Jun 1, 2005 - Education - 240 pages

To forge a sustainable future, we need citizens who care for the Earth. We need citizens who understand that planet care is the ultimate form of self-care. But we also need generations who live according to their values and convictions and who can effect positive change in their lives and the lives of others. Because public schools and the popular media cannot be counted on to produce an Earth-friendly citizenry, the task falls to parents. Yet even aware parents often lack the understanding and resources to take on such a task.

EcoKids addresses this gap by presenting a coherent plan that will help parents foster love for nature, teach children the importance of environmental protection, and promote environmental values and inspire action - actions that will last a lifetime. A hopeful and inspiring guide for parents, topics covered include ways to:

  • avoid gloom and doom in favor of positive solutions
  • foster love and empathy for nature
  • develop environmental values
  • put values into action
  • help children discover the roots of problems and be part of lasting solutions
  • walk the talk
  • counter the consumer culture, starting in your own home and community
  • generate hope and combat apathy.

Each chapter includes an inspiring case study of a child who's making a difference, short pieces that highlight serious problems such as global warming, along with positive solutions that can be read aloud to children, and activities for children. A resource guide lists helpful books, articles, videos, and organizations.

From inside the book

Contents

I
1
II
9
IV
27
V
53
VII
85
VIII
113
X
133
XI
157
XIII
183
Copyright

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Page 1 - I expect to pass through this world but once ; if, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, to any fellow human being, let me do it now ; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Page 31 - One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good Than all the sages can.
Page 183 - These are traits, and measures, and modes ; and the true test of civilization is, not the census, nor the size of cities, nor the crops, — no, but the kind of man the country turns out.
Page 102 - A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent".
Page 69 - There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be that he who bestows the largest amount of time and money on the needy is doing the most by his mode of life to produce that misery which he strives in vain to relieve.
Page 86 - It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he — with his specialized knowledge — more closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed person.
Page 89 - ... more lie all his hopes of good. Nature is cruel, man is sick of blood; Nature is stubborn, man would fain adore ; Nature is fickle, man hath need of rest ; Nature forgives no debt, and fears no grave; Man would be mild, and with safe conscience blest. Man must begin, know this, where Nature ends; Nature and man can never be fast friends. Fool, if thou canst not pass her, rest her slave ! To George Cruikshank ON SEEING, IN THE COUNTRY, HIS PICTURE OF 'THE BOTTLE.
Page 85 - ALL THAT a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts. In a justly ordered universe, where loss of equipoise would mean total destruction, individual responsibility must be absolute. A man's weakness and strength, purity and impurity, are his own, and not another man's; they are brought about by himself, and not by another; and they can only be altered...
Page 199 - I expect to pass through life but once. — If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow-being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.— Pen».
Page 184 - When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.

About the author (2005)

Dan Chiras is a respected educator and author who has published more than 25 books on residential renewable energy and green building. He is the is founder and director of The Evergreen Institute, where he teaches workshops on small wind energy systems, solar electricity, passive solar design, energy efficiency, and green and natural building.

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