We are very accustomed to hearing about climate change and the devastating effects that it entails. But, when explaining it to the little ones, it can be quite complicated. We cannot forget that, for children, the world in which they move is much simpler and more limited. For them, the simple concept of change is an idea that they have a hard time working, so, when you want to address these issues with them, it is important to know how to do so at their level of understanding and with simple examples that they can understand.
If you have young children around you and you do not know how to explain what climate change is and what consequences it has, keep reading ecology and we will give you a series of tips so that you can address the issue with simplicity and, above all, being sure that the little ones understand what you are explaining. Next we will explain the Causes of climate change for children.
How to explain climate change to children
The main problem that exists when trying to explain to a child what climate change is coming by the word “change” rather than by the fact that it affects the climate. For a child, the world is not changing, but static. In most cases, in the time scale of a child, changes do not exist, but everything is repeated cyclically, creating a static world within those cyclical changes. In this way, the simple fact of considering that things can be different, is already a challenge for your mind, so you will have to start there. In this way, the first thing to do is explain to the child that the world is not staticthat is, “it is not still”, that things change. What happens is that they change very slowly and, therefore, we usually do not realize.
On the other hand, so that a child can understand what climate change means, it must have a mental map of the world in which it lives, and that mental map must be the planet Earth. When a child understands that the world in which he lives is much larger than his most immediate reality, he can start thinking big and, consequently, understanding that the scale of the world’s space is, at least, as great as the same planet. Thus, once the child understands that he lives on a planet called Earth and that this planet changes even though we do not realize, we will have the necessary bases for Be able to explain the concept of climate change.
There are “bad changes” that affect the planet
It is essential to give examples that children understand. If we talk to them about the greenhouse effect and CO2, it is most likely that they not only do not understand it but also not Let’s get your attention. On the other hand, if we talk about animal species, for example how to destroy a forest “leaves homeless” to the panda, the child can perfectly assimilate the impact of that human action. That is, the child will understand the relationship between destroying a forest and destroying an animal species, and then you can understand that this change is negative.
As can see, choose examples that are easy to understand For a child’s mind, it will be one of the fundamental keys that will allow the explanation to be understood. Once different understandable examples for the child accumulate (destruction of forests, extinction of animal and plant species, accumulation of garbage in landfills, water pollution, etc.) we will have created the idea that there are “bad changes” that affect the planet and, then, we will be in a position to address climate change as a concept.
How climate change occurs
Once the child has understood that there are those actions that damage the ecosystem and the planet, it will be able to explain that there is one of them that is the worst of all because it affects the entire planet at the same time: climate change.
Explained in a simple way: “Climate change is the increase in the temperature of the entire planet because there is a part of the air that takes a lot of heat and that is bad for everyone because it does other bad things such as producing that the sea level increases, that glacial ice melt, or that droughts occur with its consequent famine, etc.”
At this point, it will be necessary to respond to each of the questions that the child is asked since, the perspective is so wide, that the questions will be crowded in the child mind in an accelerated way and, it is important to answer them, with time and with patience, as well as with a understandable language for the child.
This aspect will be important when the child understands the causes of climate change since, in short, what is done is to do is that understand that there are human actions that produce climate changethat is, they make “the air temperature higher and that is why those bad things occur.”
Create ecological awareness
It is probably the most complicated question to answer and that, without a doubt, the child will formulate once his understanding understands that there is something wrong against what to fight. In this sense, it is best to focus the question From a constructive perspectivetelling him that there are “good people” who do things to stop climate change and to counteract it. Likewise, it is a good time to Create ecological awareness in the child’s mindsince he will be able to understand that “there are things that are good for the planet (such as recycling garbage) and bad things (such as throwing garbage to the ground).”
It is undoubtedly a simplistic response but, when focusing the problem of climate change in a child’s mind, it is more important to understand that there are “good people” who fight against what is “bad” that simply “bad people” who do that. Keep in mind that the child may not really understand how climate change can affect him in a complete perspective, and it is important that Ecological awareness is believed, but never fear. Therefore, a constructive and positive approach, which emphasizes the “good actions” that are being carried out to counteract it will be more understandable and instructive than an apocalyptic or defeat approach.
If you want to read more articles similar to Causes of climate change for childrenwe recommend that you enter our category of climate change.
