Boosting Environmental Awareness

Posted by Michelle Carchrae May 5, 2008

I've recently started reading Barbara Kingsolver's new book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle [Harper Perennial, 2008. ISBN 0060852569), and it's really gotten me thinking about the responsibility parents and caregivers have to teach our children about how the world works. This means going beyond teaching social graces and brushing teeth to ensuring kids have a working knowledge of where our food comes from (it's not just the grocery store) and how we get clean water (besides turning on the tap).

I was raised a city kid myself, and I remember very clearly one summer vacation when we went out to visit friends and family who lived out on the prairies. We stayed with a family who lived on a potato and cattle farm, and one afternoon we drove out to the field in the pickup truck. Our farmer friend hopped out, let us pick out a plant, and then he turned it over with his shovel. I was astounded to see potatoes lying there in the ground, waiting for us to pick them out.

Food comes from the ground! What a concept!

For families who live in rural areas, grow their own vegetables and drink water from their own wells these ideas might seem as plain as the nose on your face. But for growing numbers of children who spend their entire childhoods in urban areas, it is important for parents and caregivers to make a special effort to ensure that kids have opportunities to get their hands dirty and learn firsthand where food comes from. Whether you join a community garden, head out of the city to visit a working farm or befriend a neighbour with a veggie patch, the experience will help to develop your children's environmental awareness.