Kathryn Williamson, Morgantown
The WVU Magazine “Sparked” podcast episode about “Fourth-Grade Scientists” just came out, and it illustrates how much students care about our environment.
The episode follows two WVU college ambassadors in the West Virginia Science Public Outreach Team on their journey to an elementary school to talk about water — how precious our fresh waters are and how easily they can become dirtied by human activity.
The college students took time to explain that less than 1 percent of the Earth’s water is usable as fresh water. And it resonated with the fourth-grade students: “It makes me want to like get people to stop doing it (polluting our waters).”
If there is one take-away from the episode, it’s that our students in West Virginia care about our environment. Coming right on the heels of Earth Day, it is an inspiring reminder that the way we handle the environment now can have huge ramifications for future generations.
As we consider these students, how can we in good conscience stand for policies and practices that don’t protect our environment? We must cross political boundaries, bridge disagreements and work together to find real and lasting environmental protection. Our students care, and we should listen to them.
