This was our first meeting after the summer holidays and everyone was excited to be back together again. To open things up we went around the circle to give everyone an opportunity to share anything of interest regarding the environment. Many had stories about trips to the wilderness and animals seen. Others discussed the garbage they noticed or incidents when they noticed someone littering and polluting. The sharing circle is important because it helps club members learn more about each other and gives them a forum to discuss things that excite or disturb the members with people that are empathetic and understanding.
The planet checkup had a number of interesting items including:
- A garbage island in the pacific as large as the country of France. There is a smaller but similar island in the Atlantic. I showed pictures and discussed some personal observations I made regarding tossing garbage in the ocean while I was on a trip in India.
- Conflict between monkeys and people in the Congo due to human encroachment on the monkeys environment. I discussed how such conflicts are a typical result of population growth and the lack of respect for animals and the environment.
- Blue honey in France. This was especially interesting because a bio-diesel factory (good) had stock piled lots of old M&Ms as biomass but the local bees took a liking to the sugar in the candies and ending up creating multicolored honey. Unfortunately the honey wasn't fit for eating so was wasted. Sometimes even with good intentions you can't predict negative consequences to your actions. Thankfully the company ended up storing the candies in a shelter to prevent the problem from happening again.
- We finished the news with amazing content winning nature photos. Notice that I started with the worse news items and worked towards more positive, being sensitive not to cause anxiety in the kids.
After the short meditation outdoors, we tackled the theme of globalization which is quite a big subject to cover is a very short time with young people. I started with defining what globalization means and how it often leads to homogenization which was another definition we tackled. Homogenization was easier because I referred to homogenized milk and how the fat in the milk is mixed into the rest of the milk so that it doesn't separate anymore and all of the milk looks the same. I discussed how sometimes having everything 'the same' results in loss of community and culture (I had to define this as well). Globalization can often lead to a loss of diversity so I looped back to our prior discussions on bio-diversity. Judging by the questions asked the discussion went exceedingly well.
All that brain time needed to be balanced with doing so I brought a roll of newspaper print end (you can get them super cheap at big printing outfits) and rolled out a long piece of paper for a group drawing session. We all huddled around the paper together and each drew something that we like about our community, something that makes it unique, or something that makes it special.
While we were working we listened to the song of the month from Les Colocs called La Rue Principal. This is a great band from Quebec that has the knack of taking serious subject matter but making fun music out of it. In this song, they lament that the main street of the town they grew up in has been transformed due to immigration and an influx of big corporations (e.g. MacDonalds) and they reminisce fondly at how there town used to be. (Words included below)
After the craft we discussed ideas in the action box and finished thing off reading a story book called The Most Dangerous Animal in the World which turned to be none other than man :-)
In my little town we were just four miles
Pis the main street was called St-Cyrille
The co-op, the gas bar, the credit union, the mortician
And general store
When I go back it hurts so bad
A bomb was dropped on main street
Since the shopping centre went up
The t'other day I brought my beloved
To show that this is where I was born
When he arrived v'la me beautiful joualvert
It seemed to Val-Jalbert
When I go back it hurts so bad
A bomb was dropped on main street
Since the shopping centre went up
One of these days I'll go back
With my bulldozer
And the mall are going to spend
A bad time
Before the shopping center went up
On the high street it was more alive
Of kid on a bicycle, cousins visiting
It was packed with people like in Africa
When I got back its pathetic
Alls gone wrong on main street
Since they've been built the McDonald
One of these days I'll go back
With my bulldozer
And the mall are going to spend
A bad time
In my little town we were just four miles
Pis the main street was called St-Cyrille
The co-op, the gas bar, the credit union, the mortician
And general store
When I go back it hurts so bad
A bomb was dropped on main street
Since the shopping centre went up
One of these days I'll go back
With my bulldozer
And the mall are going to spend
A bad time
In my little town we were just four miles
Pis the main street was called St-Cyrille
The co-op, the gas bar, the credit union, the mortician
And general store
When I go back it hurts so bad
A bomb was dropped on main street
Since the shopping centre went up
The shopping center, the shopping center,
The mall ...
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