The Green Team Kids
Arizona
2020, Senior, Interactive & Multimedia
Project Description: The Green Team Kids is an interactive website that I created with an educational, storybook element. From the months of November to March, I wrote and illustrated a book titled “The Green Team” about a little boy named Elijah who learns about the importance of sustainability and then creates his own initiative. My storybook was meant to be distributed for free among elementary schools in my community, but in the midst of COVID-19, my story’s direction was forced to change, and it evolved into an “online” storybook. Once a child has entered my website, they can immediately begin on a journey to learn about sustainability. As the child watches the short videos, they will be prompted to read through the webpages I created for each section in order to further educate children past a short video. After reading the section, the child will be prompted to continue the videos and educational webpages until they end up in the How to Help webpage. The combination of video and education coincides to create a platform that children are both fully engaged in, as well as excited to enter. I recently am working on changing my website to promote more interaction through a new section that involves children signing up for scheduled Zoom calls with me where I teach them more about environmentalism from home. I also created an Instagram platform to create better connections online!
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Reflection
In high school, my teachers never entertained or encouraged my environmental concerns. My freshman year biology teacher adored the anatomy of a cell, yet never explained our earth’s ticking time clock. This topic veered off our textbook’s lesson plan. Instead of silencing my worries, I dove into finding answers. While educating myself through a variety of books and documentaries, particularly Bow Seat's Resource Studio, I began adjusting my lifestyle through dietary changes and reduced consumption of single-use plastics. I now feel inspired to spread awareness and encourage my generation to actively meet and tackle this climate change crisis. I continue to educate myself on environmentalism and increase my self-awareness through more sustainable everyday habits. However, this critical information I was exposed to must be made readily available to all youth worldwide. This inspired me to create an interactive online children’s book on climate change. The online platform is free and accessible, and the interactive, adaptable format both engages young people and evolves alongside the latest circumstances and scientific advances. This year's contest theme inspires me to be source of hope for not only myself to be a better environmentalist, but also the emerging generation. I dream for children to be prepared to handle with Earth's current dissemination instead of fearing it. Young people do care about the earth we are inheriting, and when given the proper resources, passion leads to action. My mission is to fill the gaps of knowledge missed by formal education so our generation can grasp our planet’s impermanence and be primed to be a part of the solution.