Sustainable Building Forum

My daughter worked on a wind powered car for school this weekend. I think its great that the schools are teaching kids about renewable power. It really will be up to them to learn to use and continue to use these resources before this world is left powerless. Making the lesson fun should really get them interested. We as parents also have to remember to continue the teaching at home.

I agree. I think it’s important to have conversations about issues when kids are around. Even if he’s watching TV, my son will listen and sometimes join in when we’re talking about stuff. For instance this morning there was an ad on for yet another godawful plastic toy set. I said to my partner, ‘What’s going to happen when there’s no more oil to make plastic, where will all these toys go?’ and it started this big conversation about how the stuff we see as tat now will become collectors’ items, how vegetable oil will be used to make biodegradable plastics and how poor people will pick over landfill sites to get hold of plastic to sell. My boy joined in with other suggestions about recycling the plastic we have and how we won’t need new things if we just used the things we had. When it’s put into a context that they understand, kids are all for discussing these issues.

I think it is a great idea to have student learn about renewable energy sources like wind.  I am a future teacher and hope to teach my students about renewable energy and the environment.  I also think the wind energy will be an up and coming power source as materials get cheaper and cheaper and more people learn about the benefits of wind power.

Haha, yeah, teaching is important. Don't forget to make it fun, though >_>. The Magic Schoolbus is pretty nice for teaching kidduns about the world.

It is wonderful that children are being talk alternative and renewable energy sources at a young age.  The natural curiosity of children leads them to see things that we adults often miss.  If we teach them to look in unexpected places to find solutions to problems, they often find the ones we overlooked.  My daughter didn't do the wind powered car, but her class experimented with making sail boats to let float on a nearby pond.  That experiment has her now very curious into energy, and why we don't use more renewable energy.  She's asking fantastic questions, too.  "Wind is free, Mommy.  Why don't we use more of that and less of what costs us money?"