In the previous blog we at Mora Water Systems started the year with some tips and ideas on how to minimize our negative impact on the environment. In this blog we want to take a closer look at the educational alternatives that are out there for the real catalyzers of change; children teenagers and young adults.
Sustainability is to become one of the core values in all-human activity. Companies are not longer ignoring this subject when building their business strategies and governments are starting to take actions to lower their countries environmental impact. Student of all levels need to learn new ways of seeing and analyzing the sustainability factors in all their activities.
UNESCO a world leader in water education
UNESCO is a reference within water education around the world. The institute works to build a scientific knowledge base as a tool to help countries manage their water resources in a sustainable way. UNESCO has developed the International Hydrological Program (IHP), the UN-wide World Water Development Report working closely together with 20 affiliated research centers on water around the world. UNESCO also participates in series of water-related Chairs becoming an active influence in the decision-making around water.
UNESCO-IHE is the largest international graduate water education facility in the world. The Institute is based in Delft, the Netherlands and confers fully accredited MSc and PhD degrees in collaboration with partners. Over 14,500 water professionals from more than 160 countries were educated in the institute.
To learn more about the educational possibilities UNESCO-IHE offers see:
http://www.unesco-ihe.org
The Green School – Bali
The green school is a private and international pre-kindergarten to high school located along the Ayung River near Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. John and Cynthia Hardy founded the school in September 2008 with 98 students. In 2014 the student number had increased to 400 students. Subjects such as English, mathematics and science, are taught together with ecology, the environment and sustainability, as well as the creative arts, global awareness and environmental management.
The school announces that they “prepare students to be stewards of the environment, teaching them to be critical and creative thinkers, who champion the sustainability of the world and the environment.”
Read more about The Green School.
See video presentation of The Green School.
Other environmental studies
There are many options for environmental education; depending on where you live and what your previous level of education is the possibilities in your region can vary.
If you don’t have immediate access to environmental studies, here is a list of online options:
http://www.environmentalscience.org/environmental-science-online-degree
If you live in the states here is a list of the top Environmental Science Schools:
http://www.environmentalscience.org/top-schools
This useful website is a comprehensive search engine designed to help students who are interested in learning about Environmental Science programs in the US. It is a tool specially designed to help people who are getting started in this field of study, the website provides breakdowns of cost, demographic makeup, student-to-faculty ratios, and retention rates for hundreds of Environmental Science programs across the US.
http://environmentalsciencedegree.org
Educational initiatives from non-profitable organizations
New Water Culture is water awareness initiative based in NYC. New Water Culture is creating Trace The Tap a water student curriculum for primary school (9th-12th grades). The curriculum is being developed in collaboration with Generation Human Rights, and is scheduled to be available for download the first week of February.
Mora Water Systems is proud to announce our participation as co-sponsors for this initiative.
Learn more about the previous work of New Water Culture in:
http://www.thewatertankproject.com
The non-profitable initiative, No Impact Man has also developed a curriculum for Environmental Education, based on the knowledge collected during the one-year experiment of living a no impact life in NYC. This curriculum is created to be used as a tool to help middle and high school students explore and think critically about the effects their everyday behavior has on the environment, their health and their well being.
Learn more about The No Impact Man student curriculum.
Today society does not classify environmentalists as crazy hippies when talking about global warming, recycling and water preservation. Nowadays people and companies doing “something about it” are used as an example for the rest. By promoting sustainability topics in all our educational systems we are preparing todays students to become active participants in this upcoming global shift towards sustainability.