KIDS GOING GREEN

 Presented by Michele Van Allen

This is EARTH MATTERS’ 29th year of doing assembly programs in schools.  Students awareness of conservation, natural resources, recycling and pollution has increased dramatically.  However, terms like carbon footprint, global warming and climate change are relatively new.  This program will inform children about what these terms mean and give them a clearer understanding about what they can do around their home, school and community to help make planet Earth a safer place to live and grow. 

WHAT IS ENERGY?  WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? 

Everything we do uses energy.  Raising your hand in class, walking up the stairs, playing a sport, even moving your eyes from left to right to read uses energy.  Our bodies get this energy from the food we eat.  It is a perfect system.  But what about the energy we use to heat our homes, heat our water or cook our food?  In a fast paced dialogue with the audience students quickly learn about the energy used to keep us alive and comfortable. 

FROM DINOSAURS TO PALM TREES

You might be wondering what dinosaurs and palm trees have to do with global warming and energy consumption.  Children will learn that many forms of energy we use today: coal, oil & natural gas all come from plants and animals that died and were compressed millions of years ago.  All of these plants and animals are made up of carbon.  When we burn these fuels to create energy the waste product is the carbon which these same plants and animals were made up of.  Where is this carbon going?  Unfortunately into our air!  Through an unforgettable experiment on stage girls and boys see how this carbon accumulates in the atmosphere creating a giant blanket around our planet.  As with any blanket, it traps in heat resulting in global warming.

BECOMING AN EARTH HERO

How does one become an Earth hero?  Simple!!!  Learn about conserving energy.  In an eye opening slide presentation students will compare side by side on a 20x12 foot screen what is being done today using the older forms of energy compared to the newer forms of energy which do not create carbon.  Recycling and conservation also saves energy.  One of the many examples given is that recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run your television for three hours. Children will also learn that water, our most precious resource, needs to be conserved, protected, and cleaned up to help maintain the balance of nature.  Michele will encourage your students to get excited and help them learn ways that they too, can be an Earth Hero! 

This program may be 100% funded by the Clean Communities Program of New Jersey.