Figyelmeztető üzenet

Ez a cikk kb. 19 éve íródott.
A benne szereplő információk a megjelenés idején pontosak voltak, de mára elavultak lehetnek.

Environmental education

  • 2005. július 13.
  • humusz

Heroic time, award-winning CD ROM, training package

HuMuSz hadn’t had an educational centre yet when it started its environmental education programme. HuMuSz had not even been existed, when one of the later founders, György Kalas (lawyer) already started his lecture series called “Revenge of the garbage can” at schools in Győr. He enacted a real “cool consumer” who fills his garbage can with unnecessary wrapping materials. He even had an electric lollipop. He entertained – and at the same time taught – the kids. He tried to make them understand that it is not the shopping that makes them happy and that with a little awareness they can save producing a lot of waste for themselves and the environment.

It has taken ample time for HuMuSz to gain some reputation, and for teachers to start getting in touch with us. It became clear that our thoughts reach more people, if we do not only travel and give lectures, but also give ammunition to teachers as a teaching material. That is why we started to “produce” reference materials. That’ s the reason why we have released the “Wastefilm” (a 15-minute humorous educational film on consuming) in 1999, and our multimedia CD-ROM in 2001. Our purpose was to show the teachers – and indirectly the kids – the problem of the “advert Þ consumption Þ waste” interrelation, and lead them through the possible solutions to that. Here we show two examples from the CD which present some situations solved in a playful way:

1. The landfill is full! Representatives at the city hall start to think about what’s next. Shall we build an incinerator? Another landfill? Shall we start selecting? Or shall we come up with something else? It is a good idea to go through all the scenarios before making a decision.

2. Let’s reduce the quantity of waste material! This is the real solution. See how much depends on how we do our shopping, what the things are made of in our home. And by the way, it also matters what the food we eat contains.

Years after the first issue, some acknowledgement has arrived, too: in June 2004 we were granted the Comenius Multimedia Award of the European Union’s Socrates programme for our CD-ROM in Berlin. Hurray!

In September 2002 we also published a training material for teachers, which contained lesson plans, methodological aids, supplementary materials and background information for in-school elaboration of waste management topics. Besides passing on professional knowledge in the package, we also tried to give an insight into the responsibility of individuals and the potentials of being an active civil. In our opinion it is an important part of education that children start getting skills in elementary school on how to become a self-conscious, decisive and capable person, who takes part in the life of the community. To have rights without practice don’t make any sense. People should take advantage of their rights, and believe that they do have a say in forming their own environment.

hír