What my 9-year old taught me about saving the planet
By: Jade Ong
Tags: Plastic Pollution, Save The Planet, Recycling, Climate Action, Sustainability

We all want the best for our kids.

Whether it’s teaching them to be good citizens with a sound moral compass, distinguishing between fact from fiction, or giving them a good education to set them up for success and the best possible future.

But sometimes they surprise us by teaching us a thing or two instead.

Kids are like sponges. And if you’re a parent, you’ll know to watch what you say because it comes right back at you one day — often when you least expect it.

It’s amazing how a kid’s mind works and what they choose to store. Here’s what I’ve learnt from mine:

Lesson #1: Save the polar bears! Save Christmas!

Walking home from school is typically a non-event. Apart from when your little sister decides she doesn’t want to exert her little legs.

My 6-year old daughter: Why didn’t we drive? Me: It’s only a short walk. Good exercise. My 9-year old son: Anyway, driving is bad. It releases carbon dioxide that’s bad for the environment. My 6-year old: What’s that?

Before I knew it, my son took his sister through a whole mini lesson on carbon dioxide, global warming, melting of the North Pole and saving the cute polar bears.

Although, I think he lost her at carbon dioxide. Her ears only perked up when she heard North Pole.

Obviously, it worried her when my son went on to explain it means no more Santa. And more importantly, no Elve’s Workshop, toys or Christmas presents down the chimney (the fact we don’t have a chimney is a minor issue!).

Like my daughter, many of us are often not interested enough to take any action until it impacts us personally or is felt closer to home. After all, it’s human nature to be self-interested, right?

I’m no expert on climate change. But I’m not going to dispute science and experts when they say we’re already experiencing climate change now.

Or as Professor Gail Whiteman put it at Davos 2020:

“What happens in the Arctic does not stay there; what’s at stake in the Arctic is actually the future of humanity itself.”

If we really do want the best future for our kids, shouldn’t we also be doing our part to help shape a better world for them to live in?

If the experts are right, and we don’t do enough to help slow things down now, our current world could drastically change, which affects everyone — whether you have kids or not.

As for the issue of having to walk home from school — it never came up again after that day. We don’t want to lose Christmas, do we?

Lesson #2: Have you heard about the Great Pacific Dump?

I only learnt of it recently (*guilty*).

I love family dinner conversations. It’s a great time to catch up on the day. And maybe get a lesson on sustainability from your 9-year old (I’ll thank his teachers later).

“Mum, do you know about the Great Pacific Dump? It’s as big as a continent of plastic waste in the ocean that’s killing fish. The worse thing is, there are tiny bits of plastic particles in the water making it almost impossible to clean up.”

This is what I discovered from that conversation and subsequent googling:

It’s a giant, swirling pile of plastic debris floating between Hawaii and California, three times the size of France!

More commonly referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), it’s as its name suggests, made up of garbage. Anything from fishing nets to plastic bags.

The area is the biggest ocean garbage patch but is only one of five around the world.

It reminded me of my travels on the island of Korcula in Croatia, a real hidden gem. Except for a little island we stumbled upon while sailing, which was totally filled with washed-up plastic waste.

The Great Pacific Dump must be something like this — only thousands of times bigger!

Did you know plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose?

Source: WWF

According to WWF, Australia alone produces 3 million tones of plastic a year, and less than 12% is recycled. As much as 130,000 tonnes of that plastic ends up in the ocean each year.

This explains why my son brings his soft plastics home from school.

Lesson #3: WALL-E and saving the planet

“Recycling is so important because if you have ever seen the movie WALL-E, you will know that all the people live in space. They live in space because they didn’t recycle. In the movie, the Earth is one big junkyard. Right now, there is one big junkyard and it is called the Great Pacific Dump…”

This is what my son chose to write about for his homework on “Something important I have learnt …”.

In WALL-E, mankind has abandoned Earth because it has become covered with trash. WALL-E — a garbage collecting robot — has been left to clean up the mess.

Being kept up at night at the thought of having to one day leave Earth and live out of space — exciting or scary? I can’t say I’ve had to deal with bigger worries as a kid!

While I do enjoy travelling, can’t think of anything worse than being stuck on a spaceship floating around out in space forever.

It’s up to us to change our daily habits today, to strive for a more sustainable future for all. From what we buy, to how we live, and what we choose to invest in.