global warming made simple
I sat in on a lesson about global warming yesterday, together with a group of 7-8 year olds.
- Can anyone tell me the name of something in the news, it's in the news almost every day, and it's connected with the earth heating up?
Blank stares.
- It's something to do with the globe getting warmer, it's a big problem, and it's always in the news... Go on, someone take a guess at what it might be
More blank stares, then a few wild guesses:
- The sun?
- Evaporation?
- Multiplication?
Several minutes and several wild guesses later, the teacher gave up.
- Well, I'll tell you then. It's called global warming, and it means that the earth is heating up.
You see, many, many years ago, long before Lord Nelson and even before the dinosaurs, the earth needed a protective layer so that the sun's harmful rays did not damage its surface. That layer was called the ozone layer (has anyone heard of the ozone layer?) But recently, that layer has started to be damaged, and that is very worrying... it is even more worrying for all of you than it is for me, because it means that the sea level is rising, and the icebergs are melting. We're going to look at some photographs of the icebergs later on.
Does anyone know what it is that is damaging the ozone layer?
Several more wild guesses, including multiplication, evaporation and Lord Nelson.
- OK, well then tell me - how many of you have parents or people at home who use spray deodorants?
Lots of hands go up. Some of the 7-year olds say proudly that 'I use a spray deodorant'.
- Thank you. Lots of you, I see. Well when you go home, do please make sure that you have a look in your parents' bathroom cabinets, and tell them that any spray deodorants they have need to be thrown away, because every time they use a spray deodorant, that has consequences for the earth, and for your futures. The deodorants are wearing away the ozone layer, and that layer is getting very thin now. And you know, the other thing that is making the earth heat up is your fridges: when they are turned on, they also damage the ozone layer, because they give out the same chemicals.
Now we are going to look at some of the consequences of all of that.
Then we looked at a few icebergs retreating. No mention of carbon emissions, or cheap airoplane flights - perhaps because the teacher in question drives herself to school every day, along a regular (and well-served) bus route, and takes several foreign holidays a year. On Monday morning she can probably expect a stream of angry (and smelly) parents arriving in their 4x4s, asking what they will do in Lanzarotti without their spray deodorant.
A bold attempt to address the issues of today by misunderstanding the issues of yesterday. A mere 30 years too late; but maybe 30 years from now, when the beaches of Lanzarotti are buried under boiling seas, the teachers of tomorrow will start to talk about the issue of depletion of the earth's resources, explaining that as a result of 4x4 emissions.
Postscript:
It hardly needs saying that I have a huge respect for the teachers of today, and for this brave teacher who tried to raise this issue in a class of primary children. But it is a sad reflection on the state of awareness in society as a whole, that deodorants - and no doubt tesco's plastic bags, thanks to the Daily Mail - are seen as being the main cause of environmental disaster.
