Saving the Environment Through Story
Written by Aleesah Darlison
Animals and books have always been intrinsic elements of my life. You could say they’re in my blood.
I started reading and writing when I was four and have always had a huge appetite for books. My love of reading led me to writing … and here I am, ten years and fifty-two books after my first title came out. I’m still writing, still reading, still championing the cause of animals.
Like my father and his father before him and his father before him, I grew up living on a farm in the country surrounded by dogs, cats, rabbits, chickens, horses, and cows. I learned how to care for them, feed them, manage them.
On our property, we also encountered first-hand numerous native animals including wallabies, kangaroos, echidnas, snakes, goannas, dingos, and masses of birds. Experiences like these have been invaluable to shaping me as a person, as an animal lover and environmental advocate, and as an author.
My childhood was not only formative, it was also informative.
In our modern, sanitised, city-based world, I’m very much aware that many children simply don’t get to experience the kind of country upbringing I had.
From every media source we see and hear shocking reports of what’s happening to the environment. Global warming. Pollution. Melting polar ice caps. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Children pick up on the news that swirls around them and unlike my generation, they’re more aware then ever before of the devastating impact of floods, fires, extreme weather events, earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Not just on humans, but on animal species who are already wavering in population numbers and close to extinction.
We’ve all seen the recent climate change protests and we’ve all heard of Greta Thunberg. Love her or hate her (and she certainly does have her detractors), at the very least she’s made us – and our children – reflect on the environment and our impact on it.
The question is, how do we gently educate and empower young children to love and appreciate animals and to protect the – their – environment if they’ve never truly, properly, wholly interacted with the natural world? And how do they learn to care about nature and the environment without us terrifying them with Doomsday outcomes? How do we teach children who spend their lives surrounded by concrete cityscapes to appreciate the beauty, magnificence, fragility, and importance of Mother Nature?
We don’t want to base our teachings for the young on the destructive emotion of fear that hyped-up media outlets use to engage us adults. Instead, we must use fascinating facts, passion, understanding, empathy, delight, and joy. Through years of honing my craft, I’ve learned that there’s a subtle art required in combining engaging stories (narratives) with factual information (non-fiction) to inspire and excite children.
In Australia alone, there’s a wealth of literature that aims to educate and embolden a new generation of eco-warriors. Many of these books are supported with carefully researched teacher’s notes, resources, and materials to use in the classroom.