This text is taken from the Courrier de la Planète of December 6, 2022. To subscribe, click here.
A few weeks ago, we were responding to a reader who asked how we should talk about the environment – and therefore the climate crisis – to children. ” [Avec les enfants] very young, it is not necessary to approach the environment from the angle of its problems”, had indicated the psychologist Ines Lopes.
The other experts consulted by The duty abounded in this direction. They said that it was especially necessary, with very young children, to bet on the positive relationship that they could maintain with nature, on wonder.
With his extracurricular project Radio climate, launched on November 18, the borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve succeeded in putting this approach into practice, taking up the additional challenge of encouraging young people to carry out ecological actions. Thus, seven children aged 7 to 10 created a podcast episode with the help of the borough to promote good environmental practices.
“Children tackle the environmental issue in a very playful and amusing way,” says Pierre Lessard-Blais, borough mayor. Even in a festive tone, they manage to tackle real problems. Among other things, we talk about insect-based food or the importance of reducing our waste production. »
Marie-Claude Djambou, 10, hosted the podcast. She says she “learned a lot” during this experience. “I learned what dechetarism was,” she says. Instead of going to the grocery store, people go to the trash cans. Above all, it helps to avoid wasting the products. Grocery stores can also reuse their vegetables, for example by making sauce with tomatoes that are less attractive. »
beyond school
The young animator specifies that at her age, she begins to receive training, at school, on various subjects relating to the environment, especially in connection with actions that she can accomplish on a daily basis. “Every year, we collect waste, we reuse objects. Right now, we’re learning how to make earrings out of bobbin pins,” she says.
Marie-Claude adds, however, that she preferred to work on the podcast, that “it’s a very good way to learn things, because you work as a team and you have to do research on the Internet”.
The team of seven young people was surrounded by professionals from the organization La puce à l’oreille, which specializes in the production of podcasts for children. These had been hired by the borough. In particular, they supported the children in the choice of subjects and in the writing of their texts.
“Young people are sensitive to this media,” says Prune Lieutier, the organization’s executive director. It’s magic, for them, to speak on the microphone. It is a medium that allows the development of research, writing, but also orality. Ms. Lieutier adds that, for this reason, more and more schools and public organizations are calling on her services.
The episode of Radio climate, now available online, is part of a larger Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve campaign entitled “At MHM, it’s cool to be green!” “. Several activities, in particular drawing or song contests as well as “story time”, were also offered in various establishments in the borough.
“We also try to involve young people at the heart of our administrative decisions, whether in consultations for our “Climate Plan”, for our “playful streets” or for installations in our libraries, says Mr. Lessard-Blais. It is for the future of the children that the borough must work. »
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