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Me being interviewed for a local environmental radio show in
Madagascar. In some parts of the world roads are rare so radio
is a good way to reach remote communities around the rainforest.
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SAVING RAINFORESTS THROUGH EDUCATION
Education is a critical part of saving the world's rainforests. People must see the beauty and understand the importance of these forests so they will want to protect them. Environmental education should occur both in western countries like the United States and in countries that have rainforest like Bolivia and Madagascar.
In the United States, people need to understand their role in the loss of rainforests. For example, buying certain products like mahogany contributes to the cutting down of rainforests in other countries. If we as Americans make an effort to learn about the environment we can understand what we're losing as rainforest disappears. We can also make decisions to buy products and support companies and organizations that help the rainforest.
In rainforest countries local people sometimes do not know why forests are important. Through educational programs these people can learn that forests provide key services (like clean water) and are home to plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. Few children in a place like Madagascar know that lemurs are not found in America. They are quite happy when they learn that lemurs only live in Madagascar.
The Mongabay Kids site (kids.mongabay.com) aims to help children learn about rainforests and the environment. This site is still under development and I am working to add additional content as time permits. If you have comments or are interested in submitting educational content for the site, please feel free to contact me.
The site is available in many different languages, including Portuguese, Chinese, French, Spanish, Japanese, and German.
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