Saving Our World One Step at a Time

It is important now more than ever to be involved with our earth and to develop ways of preserving it. During the past decade we have been witness to the slow destruction of the world and we are the only ones to be held accountable for it. A number of people, terrified by the idea, have developed plans, charters, acts, and social gatherings in an attempt to bring awareness to the ecological health of our planet.
One of these initiatives is called the Environmental Literacy Plan. This program is designed to teach our children, grades K-12, to understand ecology and to learn through first-hand experience. These types of experiences help develop respect for the natural world and those who inhabit it. Knowing and understanding our ecology and how it works will make these future generations more willing to become involved in their communities and in the preservation of the earth. In the long run, it is expected that the ELP will make the children ecologically aware adults that appreciate the world in a way that we never did. The outcome includes innovative ideas and eager people interested in creating a sustainable world.
This humanitarian aspect is another way to get people closer together and closer to nature. When people come together and interact, they are able to see similarities in each other that they would not have seen prior to the experience. The closer we get to one another and the more bias we can eliminate, the more equipped we will be in making larger decision that will positively impact the world. Growing and creating experiences together creates unbreakable bonds that make us more willing to open our minds to new ideas. Our little differences don’t mean much when we step back to see the big picture, in this case the crumbling health of our world.
I was able to witness first hand an environment that taught children to be ecologically aware. Isaiah, my 11 month old son accompanied me to the Imaginarium, and was amazed with everything there. He seemed curious, and I could tell he had great intuition on the topic. In all, the Imaginarium is a fun and interactive museum that did a good job in incorporating almost all of the principles of the Earth Charter. This is important because these are the same principles needed to build a sustainable environment and teach people to become forward-thinking. We are at a very critical point where we must choose our future. The Imaginarium stresses the humanitarian aspect in its mission statement to “…bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect and nature, human rights, economic justice and a culture of peace.” (Earth Charter Commission 92-95) This is accomplished by having environmentally aware activities that get children and adults from every background so close to nature that they are interacting with it.
Awareness is the first step. Our hope is that this awareness will be accompanied by action. We must to do anything we can to alter our current course before we pass the point of no return, if are not there already.



Citations:
• Earth Charter Commission. The Earth Charter. First Edition. Washington, DC: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 92-95. Print.