Lesson 3. Reducing Our Carbon Foodprint

The Lesson

Lesson three was a positive look at where we can take steps to reducing the impact we have on the planet. Our key focues is onvreducing our unnesessarily vast consumption of animal products and thinking about where to buy our pet food. Lesson 4 will look more at food waste.

Issues

Some of the issues I was told by people in our facebook group usually lesson involved vocabulary. When it comes to climate change awareness there is an awful lot of complex vocabualry We'll talk about how weare going to be tackling that issue later in this post.   

The biggest problem we had with this lesson was just how much there is we can do to help the planet by modifying the way we eat. From the dairy industry to the transport of strawberries. The issues run so deep it was hard to find a key focus for the lesson. In season two we are going to focus more on how things are done and take a much closer look at the topic of our carbon foodprint.

Don't tell me what to eat

One of the big problem we've found with the subject of food is people's unwillingness to listen. If someone buys something covered in unnecessary plastic plastic and you tell them it's bad for the planet. they'll listen. They may even think twice the next time they're at the supermarket. If doesn't cook with lids and you point out they can save electricity,  they won't get angry. They may even end up thanking you. But if you tell someone that what they're eating is bad for the planet then they have a tendency to feel attacked. 

It's especially a problem amonst teens and kids because they're not the ones who buy and make the food. It's their parents you're going to irrate. I'm sure every parent has felt how infuritating it can be when a child doesn't eat. So alianating parents is also a huge issue when teaching food's enormous carbon footprint. 

That's one of the main reasons we looked at our pets carbon pawprint.

Trying to find the balance between preachy and raising awareness is very tricky. Despite my own opinions, an all guns blazing approach to to teaching the negative effects of an animal based diet is never going to work. Making small and gradual changes is absoultely vital and not attacking yourself if you do slip up and gentry reminding others what they could also do. 

 Coming up

As we mentioned earlier we've releasing some "vocab shorts" five to seven minute videos explaining the key words coming up in the next lesson. 

Speaking about our next lesson, it's a special subject lesson. In these lessons we are going to interview  an expert and talk to them about their passion. In Wendesday's lesson we talk to Amy from @honeyhousebarcelona. She tells us some facts about bees, how to help save them and all about delicious honey.

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Lesson 2: Water Waste at Home

 What's New?

Since lesson one quite a lot has happened. It's a new year and for many of us a new start. some of us have gone back into lockdown while others are fighting the elements simply to get into work and get on with our classes. 

Resolutions

I'm sure that most of us have made a whole raft of new year's resolutions. Some of which are personal and a number of which, I'm sure have already been broken. Well, don't give up. 

My personal opinion on NY resolutions is that I'm not a huge fan. I like to set myself goals, short, medium and long term. I try and make them as realisitic as possible but if I don't quite make it, I pick myself up and try again. 

One resolution, however, that everyone in the world needs to make is to be greener. That's not to say we need to look more like the grinch, but let's try and reduce the impact we're making on the planet. 

What can we do?

As teachers we are in a unique position. 

We can:

1. Have an effect on what hundreds of people do, on a daily basis. 
2. Set targets and challenges. 
3. Provied a model for our students to follow. 

This is why we've created Renewable English. So we as teachers have the matierial to help influence our students on a wide variety of issues. It will allow us to show them how our every action can either help or hinder the planet. 

If you're teaching English online, want some extra homework materials or want to raise clime change awareness in your students, you've come to the right place.

The Lesson

This week's lesson was all about water waste (Lesson 2 Video) in the class we review the vocabulary for the different household items that use water, we hear about some very disturbing facts about water use at home and we speak to a water saving expert about how we can save not only water but also money with a few very simple actions. 

As always there is a What Can I Do? Project for the students to get them thinking about how they can help save water at home. 

Special Guests

We're trying to make sure that every lesson has a special guest. They're going to share their knowledge so we can see what positive change we can have on the world around us. This week we spoke to Shirley Cato an octogenarian who has been doing her bit to save water for the past 30 years. Shirely is an inspiration for me, not only because she's my nanny, but also because she shows us that thinking ahead isn't something only young people should be doing. She leads by example showing that even older generations can change their habits to help the planet. We didn't even get started on her recycling regime. 

Coming Up 

In lesson three and four we are going to take a closer look at what we eat, where it comes from and what effects it has on the planet. We'll be speaking to a world class executive chef, who turned vegan a few years back. He's going to talk about how his own lifestyle change has had an effect on how he prepares his menus. We'll be getting some tips on how we can eat more sustainably and he'll begiving us some advice on how to reduce our carbon footprint in the kitchen. We're also going to be speaking to  bee expert Amy @honeyhousebarcelona from the amazing Honey House Barcelona about bees and what life would bee like without them. 

If you'd like to join our Facebook Group please go ahead, we'd love to hear your ideas for future classes we're also on insta @renewableenglish and twitter @renewablenglish with daily updates, tips on being greener and general chit chat about sustainability. 

We hope to see you next time. Until then. 

Stay safe, stay green and stay renewable.

Lesson 2 Video

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