Children Say We're Failing Them and The Planet

Today April 22, 2008 is Earth Day and it's not only a day to remember to recycle and take a day off from the car, but a day to teach children about protecting their future…a day to learn how to safeguard their future.

This year children across the United States had a chance to share their views on the Environment and how they thing we are doing. For almost a year students have been sharing their views on some of the biggest environmental issues facing our world. The results have been published by Scholastic in the Kids’ Environmental Report Card, the survey is the first to ever be conducted to obtain on children's views on the environment. More than 17,000 children, who ranged in school age from K-12th grade. When polled on the question: “How would you rate the response to the environmental challenge posed by global climate change?” 39% of them voted “F: Awful! Much more needs to be done”.

Other results include: 54% of kids said that “global climate change” is the most important environmental issue facing the world today, 77% of kids think we should “figure out new ways to recycle old stuff” as a way to deal with our trash. 56% think that only sometimes grown-ups are doing a good job to help the environment, while 20% said “Grown-ups are messing up the planet!”. 85% of kids say that responsibility for the environment belongs to everyone.

From the mouth of babes, we’re failing our children and the protection of their future. However it appears that the future generation may be more in touch with the environment than the last. Most children today appear to be more in tuned with environmental issues than we think, and it is up to us to instill more in them and lead by example. Therefore I hope you will find some of the links below useful. Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day Links and Resources for Children:
Earth Day 2008 Events World Wide
Earth Day Teachers Guide
Earth Day Lesson Plan for 2nd and 3rd graders
Kaboose – History, crafts, recipes and much more.
Earth Day.gov for Kids – Games and Learning activities.
Kids in Action: Earth Day Every Day
Children's Crafts for Earth Day
Amazing Mom's Earth Day Ideas for Kids and Classrooms
Earth Day for Earth's Children: Three Books for Earth Day, 2008
Children's books honor Earth Day