Life Onboard LAST UPDATE  July 21, 2010
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June 16, 2010 Empowering the Environment through Education – Elaine Nevin
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Elaine Nevin began working with ECO-UNESCO in 1996 after working as a teacher in Spain.
Everyone can make make small changes in their day-to-day lives to significantly reduce their impact on the environment. Guest educator Elaine Nevin joined Peace Boat's 69th Voyage between Helsinki and Dublin to teach participants about what they can do to help protect the world's environment. In a series of workshops, Ms Nevin explored numerous themes including climate change and the use of energy. She is the National Director of ECO-UNESCO, an organization associated with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Based in Ireland, the organization works with young people to increase their awareness, knowledge and understanding of the environment. Ms Nevin said she developed a strong interest in nature while she was a child growing up on farmland in the west of Ireland. "ECO-UNESCO is unique because it combines educating young people with environmental protection."
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Participants are encouraged to explain their understanding of climate change and what they can do to help mitigate its effects.
Ms Nevin's workshops were notable for the emphasis placed on interactivity. Participants were encouraged to speak to one another to learn what others thought about the environment and sustainability issues. "The purpose of these seminars is that people must learn through doing new things," Ms Nevin said. "There is often a great deal of knowledge amongst those who are learning and interactivity encourages the sharing of this knowledge around the room." Ms Nevin became involved in ECO-UNESCO because she wanted to do something to protect Ireland's ecosystems. She says children have an inherent interest in nature and are eager to make changes that will help the environment. "It is fantastic when you see how much they have learnt and developed." ECO-UNESCO has had great success in Ireland, with more than 2,000 young people submitting environmental projects to the organization's latest annual competition.
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Ms Nevin explains how a home fitted with solar panels could play a role in removing the reliance on coal-driven power stations.
One of the most thought-provoking activities of the workshops was an exploration of how climate change affects all aspects of our lives. Ms Nevin gives participants string and photos that contained various images such as factories, food and people. They then created a human spiderweb by using the strings to draw links between the photos that showed the causes, consequences and possible solutions to this problem. This caused a spirited discussion among the participants as they debated which images should be connected. "We believe this exploring of values is extremely important if we are to get any form of behavioural change," Ms Nevin said. In Dublin, 12 young educators from ECO-UNESCO came onboard Peace Boat to discuss their work with participants and staff members of the 69th Voyage. "We have been working with Peace Boat for a number of years and I thought it would be a good opportunity for our staff to learn more about the organization and about Japanese culture."