Bayer Young Environmental Envoy 2007 Project Proposal Environmental Puppet Show on West Kalimantan

Introduction

Our environment needs to be saved! ‘Environment’ used to be thought of as a minority interest for well meaning nature lovers but nothing could be further from today’s reality. In fact, the environment concerns all of us, because it relates to every aspect of the world we share and depend on for our survival. It influences everything we do: how we live, work and play, our health, our safety and the quality of our lives. As world citizens, we all share an interest in protecting and improving the environment around us, because it will make our life better.

The environment mostly appears as a set of problems to be solved and prevented. Effort to protect environment are not enough by producing rules on environment. Commitments to protect environment will run well if its young generation has strong commitments toward the important meaning of environmental protection. So that action must include young people. Children should not be seen just as victims of today’s environment. Children have a great untapped potential for creating a better and healthier environment in the future. By creating a ‘child-friendly’ environment we are helping to future custodians of our planet to build up the path to sustainable development. It embraces the principle of intergeneration equity: that people who live in the future have the right to enjoy the same, or a better quality of environment as we do. Our role should be one of stewardship, safeguarding the capacity of the earth we have inherited and passing on to our children and grand children a sustainable environment in which they and their children can live full and healthy lives.

That’s why Information about environment for children is urgently needed. In order to achieve a better grasp of the complexity of environmental situations, the need to adopt a more global outlook based on an interdisciplinary approach is raised. Education is thus seen as a tool for change conducive to the creation of new relationships between humans and their environment.

The Belgrade Charter 1976 provides the goal of environmental education that is to develop a world population that is aware of, and concerned about, the environment and its associated problems, and which has the knowledge, skills, attitudes, motivations, and commitment to work individually and collectively toward solutions of current problems and the prevention of new ones.  In several European countries like Denmark, Germany and Sweden, environmental education is given to students in several subjects. Particularly in Germany, environmental education materials are prepared by states, which have autonomy to prepare environmental curriculum including environmental education. In Indonesia, environmental education is starting to imply in formal education by the program that’s called Adiwiyata. Environmental education internalized in several subject in the class. Award is providing for the school which is fulfill the criteria of educational environment based on school. Because it’s a new program, not all the school can imply the environmental education to their curriculum. There are several obstacles such as teacher’s ability, school facility, etc. Because of that, improvisation on environmental education is needed, in order to inform people especially children about the complexity of environment.

Environmental education is not always given on the class. There are several ways to send message about safeguarding environment, such as music, games, arts, etc. In another word, environmental education can through with fun. Especially for children, to explain complexity of nature and environment as simple as they understand is one of a challenge.

So that this program is began, to deliver message about environment to children by puppet show. Help individuals and communities to understand the complex nature of the natural and the built environments resulting from the interaction of their biological, physical, social, economic, and cultural aspects, and acquire the knowledge, values, attitudes, and practical skills to participate in a responsible and effective way in anticipating and solving environmental problems, and in the management of the quality of the environment.

Objective

• To inform about nature and environment
• To grow understanding of environment for children
• To find other method to send environmental information
• In order to support environment education

Resources

• Budget
• Estimated budget : IDR 5.000.000
• Source : Sponsor, Local government
• Manpower
• Needed : scriptwriter, officer
• Sources : self ability, team recruitment (if its needed)
• Facilities
• Needed : Dolls, books, literature
• Sources : Library, NGO, sponsors
• Institution
• Local government
• NGO
• Schools
• Mass media
• Badan Pengendalian Dampak Lingkungan Daerah (Local Nature Impact Control Board)

Terms of Action

Action	Week
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
Preparation :
Content
Connecting
Funding
Action to :
School
On air on Radio
Evaluation

Week 1 started on June 25, 2007