Aussie Kids Being Green For Home
Australian kids are clashing with their parents over the importance of climate change, a survey has found. The survey, by research groups Bayer and the CSIRO, found one in three families disagree on the importance of climate change with one in five parents saying they didn't believe in climate change.
'It is encouraging to see that children are taking what they've learned in the classroom and using it to educate their parents on how to reduce their carbon footprint,' Peta Ashworth, from the CSIRO's Science into Society Group, said in a release on Wednesday.
'When it comes to young Australians and their knowledge of the environment, it is clear the work done in schools is creating
some healthy debates about sustainability and being green at home.'
The survey, which sought the views of 1,000 parents and children aged 10-16, found that kids were helping their parents to reduce their carbon footprint with 46 per cent of parents saying their kids encouraged them to recycle rubbish and 27 per cent saying they were encouraged by their offspring to take shorter showers. And many kids certainly felt they were the experts on the topic with nearly a quarter saying they believed they were the family expert on the environment at home.
'Hopefully with continued focus on education and awareness, young Australians can help safeguard our planet for many generations to come,' Ms Ashworth said.
One things kids and parents agreed on was who should pay for damage to the environment with 87 per cent of both parents and
kids believing big polluters should pay for the damage. The survey found natural disasters were having a particularly big impact on
kids with 50 per cent listing natural disasters as their number one worry when it came to climate change.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 » 05:05am
