CONTENTS OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS COURSE

Contents of an Environmental Awareness course can be:

•Harmony in Nature: History – How Nature was and how it has changed, correction of disharmony through talks, activities and projects on environment protection and conservation, etc.
•Disharmony in Nature: Pollution and its kinds, flora and fauna, deforestation, use of fertilizers, use of non-bio-degradable materials, wastage of natural resources, torture, killing and extinction of animals, etc.
•The beauty in nature – the colour, variety and beauty of flowers, birds, mountains, rivers, stars, etc.
•Kindness to animals – the beauty of the world of animals, birds, fishes and insects, animals have feelings too, how helpful they are, lessons we can learn from them, how man can gain from kindness to animals.
Activities for the above: Telling stories to children about people being kind to animals and vice versa, playing games with children enacting animals and humans loving and helping each other, communing with Nature by collecting natural materials like clay, sticks, straw, etc. and making models with them.
Aim: To develop in the child the ability to wonder at Nature, a sense of kinship with Nature.

•Imagine the joy and peace found in Nature.
•Kindness of Nature and its various uses to man.
•Nature's unconditional love for us.
•Nature as a parent, sustaining us and all life.
Activities for the above: Grow a plant in a pot and sing or talk to it as plants grow better and healthier this way, visualize, draw and colour scenes from Nature, discuss how each child tends to be kind to nature (even if the ideas are unrealistic, it helps in emotional bonding), showing pictures and documentaries on Nature's uses to man.
Aim: To develop wonderment at Nature, kinship with Nature, gratitude to Nature, values associated with Nature, ethical reasons for protecting Nature.

•Nature's uses through trees – various uses of trees and what happens when they are cut, what happens when whole forests are cut down.
•Nature's selfless service to mankind.
•What can a child do in return for Nature's kindness – save an protect it, grow trees, save paper (how), save water (how).
Activities for the above: Make notebooks with leftover pages and pages used only on one side, make projects, charts and models on Nature's uses, plant saplings, short talks, drawings, essays and debates by the children on Nature's love and how we can return it.
Aim: To make children aware of Nature as kind and loving and the need to return love in gratitude, giving children concrete ways in which they can help the situation in their own little ways.

•Uses of an important aspect of Nature - animals.
•What man forces from animals in all walks of life - transport, war, farming, clothing, entertainment, science, food, cosmetics, showpieces, jewellery, etc. Highlight the inherent cruelty.
•What man does in return – torture, killing, extinction.
•Pollution, deforestation and their dangers.
Activities for the above: Essays and debates on reactions to the above-mentioned aspects, visits to farms to see rural life with animals, visits to forests of wildlife sanctuaries to see wild animals, charts and projects on the above-mentioned, vegetable and flower gardens with children in groups using the children's own gardens, visits to and from animal welfare organizations.
Aim: To make children aware of mutually nourishing relationships between man and other aspects and of Nature, having positive and grateful attitude towards plants and animals.

•History of how Nature was regarded by man and how the view changed.
•Nature – the Western and Eastern concept.
•Harm done to Nature and its effects on the world.
•Corrective measures going on around the world
Activities for the above: Themes to be developed using natural materials, e.g. ways to store water using models created with clay, sticks, leaves, stones, etc., getting in commune with Nature – nature walks, bird, butterfly and insect watching, sky gazing, building bird baths, integrated study of Nature through various school subjects, etc.
Aim: To make children aware of how man's regard for Nature has fallen causing all the damage, learning about environmental damage and corrective measures, learning to commune with different aspects of Nature.