Kids having fun learning Green and 15 weeks to go!
Our time in San Antonio rocked with 5 more schools, Christian Academy of San Antonio, Keystone School, St. Anthony’s Catholic school, Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Luke’s Episcopal. It was a 2-day run around with 2,000 more kids about the simple daily Actions they can take to grow up green! We even did our very 1st church presentation in Shurtz, TX with 500 kids who were so eager to participate; our show went 90 minutes instead of the usual 45!
We also had another great event with our partner, Lululemon and with Suzy and Co. at Whole Foods Market. We’re realizing every day, that our tour is really about kids and helping the work their parents and teachers are already doing, by being a 3rd party with more “cool cred” to instill this message of growing up green.
Their enthusiasm to implement our top 10 action steps into their lives inspires Steph and I to keep running and keep speaking, as in the words of a teacher who said, “ your tip to turn off the lights will help us get the children to cut our usage and save on the $8,000 a month we spend”. She didn’t even tell us how much they spent on water every month, but rolled her eyes by the high price tag. There’s a whole generation growing up not making the connection. It’s not that teachers and parents don’t care as I’m sure they’re always saying, “turn off the taps, turn off the lights”, just like our parents did. I guess it will take much leading by example and maybe a tour called the Run For One Planet to run into town with a simple message asking them to just do ONE thing really well.
Click here to watch Matt and Steph at a school event teaching about Environmental Awareness!
As I write these words I am feeling a sense of urgency and the importance of our mission while we still have time out here. Just 15 weeks to go. If I could, I’d just keep running everywhere, in order to keep our message alive and current. It’s not from an arrogant place I say that our work is vital, it’s from the knowledge from our almost 9 months out here running and speaking of how many people are just starting to talk about going green and linking the things going on with the Planet, to some of their personal daily habits.
Our tour won’t solve major climate crisis issues solely. However, we passionately believe that our ability to connect with people by connecting with the pavement has allowed us entry into the grassroots movement which needs to keep rolling and needs to teach this generation coming up, about total conservation and total shifting of how we live day to day.
We go between “we’re doing it’ and “there’s so much still needed to be done”. And we’re always learning that small steps really do add up, as long as we keep that as our mantra and our daily connection point to our running, our tour and our mission.
Wow, 15 short weeks to go before returning home to Vancouver. I wish we could start again and book our schools by the thousands in order to reach more people. Our Legacy of Action for Kids will have to be our way to keep empowering them to create the kind of world they want to grow up in by supporting their own green projects. This knowledge takes a bit of that urgent feeling off my heart, though it doesn’t take it away completely. I’ll keep running, along with Steph and meet as many of our mini peeps and peep-ettes as humanly possible and impart of message for these next 15 weeks!
Watch more of Matt and Steph teaching environmental education at school events here.
Hi Matt & Steph!!! Diane from the pic of Steph & me w/ my trash bags. All is well here in SA hope you are having a great time still I tell everyone about our visit @ Whole Foods it was a superfantastic day. Keeping it GREEN : ) Peace, Love, & Happiness to U in all your travels.
Comment by Diane — Saturday, February 7, 2009 @ 9:01 pm