"BEAUTY  WILL SAVE THE WORLD"! -

A poem: 'Reflections'

Sometimes,

When the mountains

reflect on rivers,

you can find out things

you never knew before.

There are flowers up there,

rocks like clouds,

A little snow becomes a creek and grows into a river.

- LINDSAY RYDER, age 11, 1999 Rivers of Words finalist

Children are experts at creating visions of places they've seen only in their imagination- places made real by the act of creation. Imagine what they could do when they are exposed to wonder and not catastrophe.

In recent years environmental education has too often focused on environmental problems and crisis such as pollution and species extinction. I believe that emphasizing environmental problems with children, especially young ones, can leave them feeling disempowered and hopeless about the state of the world and their ability to affect it. What if children can learn to love a place or their connection with mother Earth, wouldn't they naturally grow up to take care of her!!

There is an organization called Rivers of Words (ROW) founded by Pamela Michael which practices place-based learning by inviting children to use the arts to explore and express their understanding of and connections to their home places. People at ROW believe that children who come to understand and to love their home places will grow into engaged, effective citizens committed to preserving those places.