For decades, we in The Bahamas have realized that, in a lot of cases, education can determine success.
For many of us, it has been a means to escape poverty, open up new opportunities and expand our world. Investment in educating Bahamian students about energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy conservation can lead to a generation that better understands how to harness available energy resources and can transform us into a population that consumes energy in a responsible way and would lead to local innovations of processes and products that are best suited for our environment.
The children in our school system today have a very different view of the world than persons like me who left school almost thirty years ago. They have access to the world by a few clicks of a mouse and have an abundance of information available to them on computers and any number of handheld devices. Any effort to transform our economy into a greener one must engage these young persons and early. We have the opportunity to equip them with the skills to make good decisions around the use of energy, responsible fishing and farming, conservation and innovation.
Such programs would target all levels of children in our education system in a language that they can understand. It would not involve the addition of a new subject but would be integrated in the existing curriculum and would reflect the realities of our island economy and climate. Learning would take place through demonstrating how to harness the wind to provide useful work such as to turn wheels, for example, and explain how a see-saw, while used for fun, is really a simple machine. Children would learn that different types of bulbs come in different shapes and learn which one's help save on energy use by producing more light than heat. They would learn how simple acts like turning off lights and televisions are important in reducing consumption of electricity.
New words can be introduced into their vocabularies in English class so they begin to improve their energy literacy. In science class, they would learn how different colors absorb different amounts of sunlight; they would learn how to conserve water and the effects of shading. In History, they would learn what different peoples throughout the ages used as sources of energy and why.
The importance of demystifying energy and science for our children cannot be understated. Indeed, these children will be the ones to deliver a green tourism product, sustainable water production, production of algae to produce oil and other innovations we have not yet considered. These newly educated children would be poised to make better decisions about designing and purchasing cars, designing homes and other structures and would be the new innovators leading us into a more sustainable and more green economy.

What initiatives do you have at your school to promote green education? Tell us about it. Send questions or comments to sbrown@graphitebahamas.com.

Sonia Brown is Principal of Graphite Engineering Ltd. and is a registered Professional Engineer.

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