Educating Today's Youth for Tomorrow's World

Next Generation Earth Care

Our Next Generation Earth Care Program teaches children about the environment and the challenges it faces in ways they understand it best. We inform tomorrow's leaders about their impact on the environment today by teaching elementary through high school students about the environmental health of our planet, including recycling, health risks from pesticides, energy conservation and pollution, acid rain, PCB's, global warming, genetically engineered food and fast-food.

The Next Generation Earth Care Program is comprised of three distinct curriculum plans according to education and maturity level, and includes question and answer sessions, informational lectures, discussions of topics, and how children can be effective in changing the environment around them. Each lesson plan also includes fun activities that relate to the material, further engaging children and encouraging their understanding and activism. Each student takes home interesting fact sheets about the environment which informs them how to encourage others to protect our natural resources.

Lesson A: Basic Environmental Issues is designed for children in the third grade and above and provides basic facts in regard to recycling, pollution, pesticides and health impact, and alternatives to the use of chemicals. An exploration of how these issues effect our world and what kids can do about it is conducted in a question and answer session.

Lesson B: Global Warming, Acid Rain and More introduces complex environmental matters: greenhouse gases, global warming, alternative energies, acid rain and PCB's. Although these issues are more detailed, they are presented in ways that permit children to understand and relate to them in a down-to-earth fashion. Introducing complex, scientific topics to children debunks myths and helps them better understand the world around them. Fun activities include pro-active letter-writing to government and community officials, and scientific experiments which further kid's understanding of global warming and how alternative energies work.

Lesson C: Food and the Future dares to ask young adults a very simple question: What exactly are you putting in your body? While it may seem easy to answer, upon further examination it becomes more difficult. This curriculum targets eighth through twelfth graders and informs young people about the health implications of junk foods and genetically modified foods. Using commercials and the media, we ask students to examine the ways in which they are manipulated by junk food and fast food companies. We reveal facts about the amounts of sugar, salt and fat that kids consume, and alternatives they can select to improve their diet. The lesson also explains genetically modified foods and scientific concerns in regard to ecology and health.