An inside view!

𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕘 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕛𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪

The 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 program kicked off last week with 10 child-authors from 𝐒𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲, Chennai all ready to change the world with their pens. The highlight was a session with Nick Kleese, the Assoc. Dir, Community Engagement at University of Minnesota's 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 where the discussion surfaced anthropocentric viewpoints that we all subconsciously subscribe to. True to its ecopedagogy roots, the program embeds dialogue and discussion, along with multi-modal learning through which children problematize ecological issues facing their city. Their thinking has already gotten deeper and wider as they've started grappling with nuances, complexities and their own role as contributors but also problem solvers. Videos like this one on the Pallikarnai marshland (https://lnkd.in/gA9MmWVU) sparked brainstorms which added to their growing 'bag of story ideas'. 

Can't wait to see the stories these super bright kids are going to come up with... Watch this space for regular updates.

𝕐𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕘 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕤 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕦𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕒𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕛𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪

The second week of Cogitation Club's 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 program was packed with learning. The ten young child-authors and I uncovered the socio-environmental injustices behind thermal power generation, clothing manufacturing, food production and unthinking urbanization. 

We had three fantastic speakers. 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘰 𝘙𝘰𝘨𝘢𝘪 & 𝘎𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘢 𝘔𝘦𝘻𝘦𝘪𝘰𝘷𝘢 from 𝗦𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗸 𝗘𝗰𝗼 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 spoke about the social and environmental impacts of fast fashion. A lovely discussion ensured where the kids talked about how their families reuse and recycle  clothes among family or convert them into cleaning materials. To build glocal connections, we also watched a great video about how Western consumerism is directly impacting our rivers due to the pollutants from the Tiruppur garment manufacturing industry.

The next day we had 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘬 𝘎𝘶𝘯𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘬𝘢𝘳 from 𝗔𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗶  who spoke about food miles, farmer debt, pesticide usage, and the environmental impact on land and human health. The positive message that the children gave us was that their families are particular about avoiding processed foods. 

A lot of credit goes to 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝘆 that has created a socially and environmentally conscious school community, one that is extremely rare in today's world. I could start the program at Level 10, since the children are already way ahead in their knowledge, experiences and attitudes. 

Story ideas for child-authored eco-fiction books are cookin' away.. the landscape is vast, the characters are being imagined and issues being delineated. . Watch this space for regular updates.