June 2010 International Media Studies Environmental Education inWEnt/DW-Akademie- Print 1

Let’s start small – they say in “Lilliput”, a kin-

dergarten in the centre of Bonn. From early on, the kids are taught to take care of the nature through everyday ac-tivities. This is where the green mentality in Germany takes its roots.

How does environmen-tal education for the smallest ones actually work? They defi-nitely don’t lead heated discus-sions on climate change and CO2 emissions. “We introduce children to little things on a daily basis: remember to turn off the water faucet, switch off the tape recorder when you are done with listening to a cassette and so on”, - a kinder-garten teacher Hanna Wink-hoff explains.

She has been working at “Lilliput” for more than five years and stresses that it isn’t some special kindergarten with a bias in environmental education. Discussing these topics with the kids is common for kindergarten in Germany. Special are the so called “wald-dorf” (forest-countryside) kin-dergartens, where the children spend all day long outdoors. In Hanna’s opinion, these kids are likely to have troubles with in-

tegration into school life later, since they are not used to sit still at a desk.

“Lilliput” carries out special projects like visiting a garbage disposal. Once a month the older kids from 3 to 5 called “Drachenreiter”(dragon rid-ers) take a walk in the woods. In the summer they make such trips daily - two weeks long. What can be a better way to get closer to the nature? So I decided to join the “dragon riders” and see the grassroots of environmental education. It was cold and rainy, which didn’t stop us from visiting the forest.

It was a real camping trip: three kindergarten teach-

ers and eighteen kids with their rucksacks full of equip-ment: mats, tents, thermos flasks. As the group reached its usual camping site, the kin-dergarteners dug out a hole in the ground: our toilet for the day. The children washed their hands with organic soap made of grains, “not to bring all the dirt back to the kindergarten”, as 4-year-old Marie proudly in-formed.

We took our seats for the picknick. But before starting their breakfast, the hungry kids greeted the forest with

a welcome song. After the meal everyone was free to run among trees, climb the hills, look for wild pigs or deer and enjoy the sparkling green world.

DARIUS, 5, told me that no-body is allowed to hurt trees “otherwise there would be no trees left and it would be im-possible to go through the for-est”. Then he added in a very serious manner: “After I finish washing my hands, I always close off the water faucet. I have learned this myself.”

All the kids know basic en-vironmental rules, although they may sometimes forget, what color the garbage bin for the plastic is or why they must only use a certain place for toilet in the woods. How-ever, the idea that they can go to the toilet anywhere in the wild doesn’t even cross their mind. And they are positively sure that they have to clean up their camping site after each meeting with the forest.

A three-year-old, SILAS, ex-plains that it’s not a good idea to throw garbage where one wants. In her turn, LUISA, who is five, says that if one always leaves the light on, the bulb would break. Not only does she take care of that, but also of her pet rabbit at home. Her peer PHILIP knows that “if we leave the water running, we won’t have enough when we are thirsty”.

The childcare specialists as-sert that it is easy to teach the young ones to care about the nature, because this is com-monly done in German fami-lies. DEBORA ASSENMACHER has been working in “Lilliput” for three years and is a student of pedagogy of early child-

hood in Koblenz. “Children grasp the information very quickly if you show them ex-actly what will happen if they don’t follow the rules. The na-ture is more important for the kids than for us, adults. We build up the foundation”, she says.

How crucial this foundation is realizes SUSAN SCHILLING, the mother of three-year-old Frida. “In our family we try to shop for regional food and ride our bicycles. In comple-ment, “Lilliput” does a lot to engage the children into the topic. Should a child want to know more, she or he could always find a special ecological school. But in the first place it’s important to turn environmen-tal protection into a habit”, says Susan, who works at a so-lar enterprise in Bonn.

MIGUEL GARCIA, an archive worker and the father of Luis, 8, a former “Lilliput”-er, says that it is important for the kids to understand how their actions could directly affect the climate and learn to be responsible for it. “My son is especially active in saving wa-ter: he knows what it costs”, Miguel sums up.

Green mentality: plant the seeds early

Ex p E rt Op i n i O n

by Amalia OGANJANYAN

Germany is one of the leadest country in the climate change discus-sion and popularization of the green mentality. The green movement has changed the German society and is reflected in the educational system. How great is the role of environmental education in German schools? How does one bring up a child who respects the nature? The German educational sys-

tem provides lessons and methods to shape environmental awareness on

different levels - from early childhood to higher education. This is a part of the state policy, not simply initiatives of the civil society. It is amazing to foreigners like me, who often don’t even give a thought to the effects of climate change. I come from Georgia, where environmental consciousness is still at the bottom of the “to do” list for ordinary citizens due to current vital problems.

Say hello to the forest!

A 14-year-old pupil of the Nieder-

Olm Gymnasium ANNA ORTMAN is a member of a Mainz-Wiesbaden local environmental activist group Greenpeace-youth. What does her Greenpeace life look like?

- Our group consists of 11 teenagers from 14 to 19 years old and meets once in two weeks. We plan activities, design and draw posters for street initiatives, stage a theater performance, which is very funny, share information on environmental events of relevant organizations. At the end of April I took part in a protest against atom energy. Our poster symbolized, how beautiful our world would be without nuclear plants and how they pollute it.

- What made you join Greenpeace?

- There were different reasons that triggered me. The topic Climate change is getting more and more acute, and I love and respect nature. I strongly believe that we must do something against the environmental threats before it’s too late. But one man alone is powerless;- only united we can achieve feasible results. It was also my dog Nele, who made me interested in protecting nature.

I get so much motivation and positive energy from our Greenpeace activities. I’m not afraid to go public. And I would continue being

a part of Greenpeace. - Is there any special courses dedicated

to the environmental issues at your school?- No, just so called environmental group

work, which is optional. But everybody knows about the Greenpeace, we’ve had it

as a topic in some classes. - Are you just as environmentally active

at home?- I do my best to save energy and water

the plants with rainwater. I hate it when somebody at school plays with paper, makes paper balls and then simply throws them away. Even if one side of a paper sheet has already been used, I use the other one as well.

- Was it your family that shaped your environmental consciousness?

- This attitude comes partially from my family, but partially it is my own world view. Actually, my father was skeptical about my environmental involvement at first. Al-though he has nothing against nature pro-tection he doesn’t support our principles to fight against nuclear plants. He argues that this would make Germany more depen-dent on Russian gas. However I managed to convince him to switch to eco-electricity! My mother supports my ideas - she even gave me a ride to our protest action site. My little sister hasn’t expressed any inter-est in environmental organizations yet.

„I convinced my father to use eco-electricity“

Pr o f e s -s o r .

GERHARD DE HAAN, Free University of Berlin, Chair-man of the German As-sociation for the Environ-mental Education and scien-tific adviser of the Ministry of Environment, Nature Con-servation and Nuclear Safety: ”The term „environmental education“ has evolved into “education for sustainable de-velopment”. This new concept includes not only environmen-tal but also social and economic aspects. Besides the threats for humanity it is concerned with modernization through creativ-ity.

Environmental education is mostly spread in schools. It’s an obligatory topic in the cur-riculum, but it depends on the school system regulations in every German state. Moreover, each school has its own spe-cialization. I wouldn’t say that Germany is perfect in the envi-ronmental or sustainable edu-cation: only 15 % of the schools specialize in this issue - it’s not enough.

However, it’s difficult to en-act environmental projects at schools because of lack of time and complexity of the topic. On the other hand, we have enough educational materials. There is no special course at schools dedicated solely to en-vironmental issues. This has to be taught either in ecology or biology classes and be included in some interdisciplinary les-sons.

Other fields like higher edu-cation, kindergartens or profes-sional education are still lack-ing in this regard”.

Message from Georgia

EKA BENDELIANI of the ministry for Environ-

mental protection and Natural resources of Georgia on envi-ronmental education: “We organize actions like

“Plant a tree, make your envi-ronment green!”, “Plastic bags are enemies of the nature” involving students, pupils and teachers nationwide. Together with GTZ (Deutsche Gesell-schaft für technische Zusam-menarbeit) we carry out an initiative called „An hour of garden birds“, where teach-ers and pupils observe and in-terpret the behavior of birds. In the same partnership we educate about the Red list of Georgia. Our ministry cooper-ates with young environmen-tal protectionists - we founded a students’ ”Green club”, for instance, where young people set up conferences and eco-camps, arrange and protect ecological paths.”

Message from

Georgia

Anna likes to spend time with her pet Nele

Luisa with her kindergarten teacher Hanna

Kids exploring the forest