Earth week

Ellie Kim

Hilma / Danya

 

 

Environmental issues are a real concern. The most concerning environmental

issues may include climate change, pollution, environmental degradation, and resource

depletion etc. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported  

"The amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is already above the threshold that

can potentially cause dangerous climate change. We are already at risk of many areas

of pollution...It's not next year or next decade, it's now."

 

To create more awareness about the environmental issues, Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 and that week has been called as Earth week. In 1990, the U.S. made it as a national holiday and is now celebrated by 175 countries. The United Nations recognized the date as International Mother Earth Day in 2009

 

Almost all schools in the world celebrate earth week during the month of April, including AIS-R. Every day the school had a different activity. Students were told to wear different coloured clothes each day. Lights were switched off for one of the days from 8:00-9:00 am. Cold lunch options were served instead of hot options, Students and staff planted one small plant into a rectangular planter that would later grow into a plant-wall. The school had these activities and made all students participate.

 

When I observed the students behavior towards the environment I thought that students don't consider the environment at all, but according to an AIS-R, 8th grade survey recently taken, 90% of students considered themselves people who care about the environment. The high percent of student that care about the environment since our school doesn’t seem to have such a great program for raising awareness about the environment.

 

Most of the students had a negative opinion toward the activities. From the same 8th grade survey, 78% of students did not get affected by any of the activities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noor, an 8th grade student who does not care about the environment, commented towards the activities, “I think these one-day activities are very basic, very elementary. They provide no effect on the school body, and in no way are persuading us to save the environment. Rather, by cutting off electricity and not selling water bottles makes students not want to save the planet, that it's a waste of time. Wearing different colors makes no difference to the planet.”

 

Some students who care about the environment had the same opinion just like the other students who does not care about the environment. According to Layan, one of the student who does care said, “ To be honest the activities were useless, for me it did not affect me in any way, and the activities did not really help me. And to really make people care about the environment wearing different coloured shirts every day or shutting down the electricity for an hour is useless, you should educate them more about environments you should make them fear themselves from their own actions. Those activities that we have done did not persuade me at all and I am positive they did not influence others.”

 

A new student who chose to remain anonymous complained that the activities were worthless “All efforts put into this had no effect at all and was pointless to even try to turn the electricity off for an hour or to not sell water bottles for a day. No one has worn the colors for each day nor considered turning off their lights when they aren't in their house.”

 

Neither the student that cares about the environment and the student that doesn't care about the environment were affected by the activities. “My old school was an American public school. We made a garden in a sort of dead field and made it live and stable for animals to live in. We planted trees in the front of the school and had a project made for each student to go without something for a week.” said by Danya one of the new students at AISR who also thinks that AISR should improve to have better activities that actually raise awareness.

 

Although AISR tried to make an effective Earth Week, students and teachers think it was pointless and the efforts were wasted. Compared to other schools, AIS-R was weaker in approaching earth week. If the school had new activities, more students could be affected and influenced, like a other schools all around the world, this is what the school should aim for.