Help us continue our important work in environmental education for 115 elementary school students, boys and girls. This program gets them hands on experience walking in nature, doing beach clean-ups, planting trees, building home gardens, recycling, and making compost. Through project based learning, we hope to empower our students to be part of the global effort to protect our planet for future generations.
The Los Algarrobos school is situated in Canoa, an isolated beach town community that depends on a precarious tourist economy. In Canoa, it is still normal to burn garbage or throw it just anywhere. Living next to the beach this is particularly worrisome for the health of the ocean. In the rural areas, many locals practice slash and burn monoculture. The government mandated curriculum teaches very little about the environment and the effect humans have on it, so we created our own program!
This program brings the urgency of environmental care to the students' attention by going outside of the classroom. During the pandemic, our activities have been online or outdoors, but we have continued this important work. When students face problems and create solutions with their own hands, in their own homes, they are empowered to make change. Through professional development workshops, our teachers will learn to work environmentalist thinking into everyday classes and civil hours.
Children are the source of effective change. This program would encourage students to change daily habits that effect their natural environment. Since the pandemic has brought our studies into the home, we are proud to see many parents and adults taking part in these activities. As we enter our third year of programming, we hope that our students will gradually begin to sincerely employ sustainable habits that little by little will create a cleaner, healthier environment for generations to come.
