Professor Claude Mertzenich gave a very interesting lecture on "going green." This was for a paideia class. He talked about green chemistry, which involves replacing processes that have negative effects on the environment. Mertzenich went over many things about chemical products and synthesising but one thing I picked out of his lecture was him saying that we should try to prevent waste instead of trying to clean it up. He also talked about using non-toxic chemicals and no hazardous substances.
Trying to prevent instead of clean up is the biggest lesson I took from this lecture and is something I think I can, as one person, make an impact on the world. Even as small as something in my classroom or trying to teach the kids tricks I've learned over the years about how to reduce my personal waste. There are a lot of actions I can take to help reduce waste on a small level but I'm helping the world little by little and if I can pass that on to my students then in some way I am helping the world "go green" in a little bigger way. And isn't that one of the main goals of teaching? Passing on your knowledge and tricks you learned about life through living it.
Philosophy of Education
14 years ago
1 comment:
I definitely agree with Sam. The easiest thing you can do to "go green" is to reduce waste that you produce. I hope, like Sam, that I can teach my students what I know about reducing waste and "going green" which hopefully in the future will make a bigger impact on the world. If we start teaching kids now how to reduce waste and conserve energy then eventually they can teach their families and children. It will just be a growing impact on the world that all started with one teacher.
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