Doing Their Share To Save The Planet – Donna Lee King

The environment as a Garden of Eden, drawn by an eight-year-old girl Everything’s Okay A cheerful portrait of the planet by a nine- year-old girl. Taking Personal Action Many kindergartners draw themselves saving the planet This picture of children getting garbage out of the water was drawn by a five-year-old girl. Taking Personal Action Using technology to save the earth. These girls in spacesuits were drawn by a nine-year-old girl Taking Personal Action A ten-year-old boy describes his drawing: “This little man is me going to tell the president to make an announcement about pollution.

He should say that people who pollute the world should go to jail ’’ many children’s poster art Calling for Action An eleven-year-old girl uses peace signs and recycling symbols to make her picture of saving the planet Calling for action This ten-year-old hoy incorporates a wide range of calls for environmental action in his drawing.

Depicting the Problem A thirteen-year-old boy draws the earth as ugly and eaten away by pollution. Depicting the Problem Many children depict litter on laiuns as an environmental problem, as in this drawing by an eight-year- old girl yo«.lson’+ Indicting the Problem Makers For many children individual responsibility is the dominant theme of their drawing, as in this portrayal of a girl wasting water, by an eleven-year-old girl.

se/ ‘^a vN\|..-f re<=>jr, ‘ VIt lAee 4 ■ tW’ •f-reei environmental villains. Recasting the Problem A nine-year-old boy draws a dying alien from outer space, with an onlooker saying “We have to save ourplantet [sic].” A perfectly equal gender division occurs in this category, with almost half of both the girls and boys drawing someone taking personal action to help the environment (see Table 2). Some gender differences in theme preference can be detected, however, with more girls drawing “protecting, preventing, and nurturing” themes—such as planting trees or saving animals— while only boys depict “avenging” as a way of taking personal action.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8135-2184-X (cloth) — ISBN 0-8135-2185-8 (pbk.) 1. Environmental sciences—Study and teaching (Elementary) 2. Environmental responsibility. 1. Title. GE70.K56 1995 363.7—dc20 94-41056 CIP British Cataloging-in-Publication information available Copyright © 1995 by Donna Lee King All rights reserved Published by Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey Manufactured in the United States of America For Alexander, and for his great-great-great-great-grandchildren.

May you inhabit a humane and hospitable world. ; ^ / ‘Sii’ti;?? »>• t>. ^’^1 ;•. >^ r,, ^ ■; ■ ■3\: – ::’:M f»<4 Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 Images of Children in Environmental Crisis 7 2 Selling Environmentalism to Kids 29 3 Children’s Concerns about the Planet: Messages in Their Drawings 55 4 What It Means to Kids to Be Green 73 Conclusion 115 Notes 123 Viii CONTENTS Bibliography 127 Index m Acknowledimients Some of the material in Chapter Two appeared in my article “Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Kids, Environmental Crisis, and Competing Narratives of the New World Order,” The Socio¬ logical Quarterly 35 (1) (1993): 103-120.

A version of Chap¬ ter Three appeared in Joel Best, ed.. Troubling Children: Studies of Children and Social Problems (Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 1994). While in the process of researching and writing this book, I have ushered my son through infancy and toddlerhood into preschool, I have completed graduate coursework and a doc¬ toral dissertation in sociology, I have commuted long distances to teach sleepy college freshmen at eight o’clock in the morn¬ ing, and, with my family, I have moved three times in the past four years, most recently a thousand miles south to a new teach¬ ing position.

There is no way I could have done this alone. Barbara Katz Rothman ushered me through a tough transition from ambivalent graduate student to committed cultural critic. Her sharp intellect, deep-seated moral compass, apt and witty writing style, and warm and constant friendship are a continuing source of inspiration, admiration, and support. Stanley Aronowitz and the former Committee for Cultural Studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York were instrumental in shaping my thinking about what consti¬ tutes knowledge, power, and social analysis.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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• ISBN: 081352184X, 0813521858
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• Language: English (en)

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