Saving the rainforest
I’ve just been to the P3 leaving show, about the rainforest. They had them dressed up as various rainforest creatures - well mine was. One of my friends children was in the percussion, and though they sounded really good - surprisingly so actually - you couldn’t see him at all. But then I suppose as rainforests go that’s probably more realistic than the four jaguars in full view at once…
It was nice to see the children doing the show, as usual. But I found myself watching it through increasingly gritted teeth (with that eye at the back of my tongue. You know what I mean!). The gist of the show was that the lovely rainforest is being trashed by greedy bad men a long way a way who should realise what they are doing is wrong and stop it.
My P3 happens to love the rainforest - he’s always been keen on creatures of most sorts, and it does have an abundant supply. So he is quite upset at hearing about this wanton destruction, about which he can do apparently nothing. Part of my job is involved with raising awareness of climate change, and it’s a big consideration that you should try to avoid giving the impression that doom is coming without giving people the agency to do anything about it, as it’s bad for people’s mental health, and so not a particularly kind thing to do.
I’m not banging on about my delicate child’s frame of mind here, I think he’ll cope. I’m just cross about the exploitation of the topic I suppose. Call ourselves, who chopped down the great Caledonian forest, our own equivalent of the rainforest, years ago and have benefited from the land ever since, the goodies. Call people who are doing this to feed their families greedy baddies. Where were the connections here? Does the school stand up and say we will only source wood products that are Forestry Stewardship Council Certified? No. Does it say it won’t accept school dinner ingredients which include palm oil? No. Does it say the PTA won’t raise money by having a barbeque the very same evening using beef, fuelling global demand for beef that leads ranchers to cut down the forest? Pardon? Does it ask parents not to drive to school to reduce the need for fuel - and so the production of alternative fuel to CO2 emitting petrol, the biofuels which are wrecking the rainforest? Come on, its far easier to blame the bad men far away.
If we are going to educate children to care about the environment - at least let them know that they can make a difference. And how.