The COVID-19 crisis has had a significant impact on the world and thrown so much of what we’re used to into flux. For many of us, we’re unable to continue with our usual activities - at least in the same way we used to do them. This has prompted a lot of conversation about exactly what kind of normal we want to return to.

At Skateistan we’ve been taking some time to reflect on ways in which we as a social skateboarding community can be more environmentally friendly. This can be a really challenging topic, since so many projects are running on limited budgets and it may not seem like the first thing we want to consider. But, it’s a crucial topic and necessary that we talk about it.

We feel that it’s important to be introducing ideas about the environment to our sessions with young people.

If each generation has a greater understanding of environmental issues, we will see more and more positive change and sustainable lifestyles in the future. We wanted to share some of Skateistan’s lesson plans here, which could be adapted and incorporated into your own sessions:

• Global Impact lesson plan: Students explore the ways in which local actions can have an impact on the world. They then create a book which identifies their place in the world.
• Recycling and Gardening lesson plan:Students learn about recycling, and understand how it relates to the environment through a series of fun activities.
• Water Purification lesson plan:In this lesson students will learn how to make a water purification filter. They will also learn about the importance of clean water, and how this relates to some environmental issues.

It’s also important that we are talking about how our projects’ operations can be more green. We don’t have the answers here, but would love to be a part of the conversation. Some things which would be good to discuss are:

• Is there a more eco-friendly way to run international volunteer schemes that minimizes flights?
• Can gear donations be arranged with a lower carbon footprint?
• Are there nifty ways of recycling and reusing old skateboarding parts which we haven’t thought about?

We’d love to hear from Goodpushers on this topic. If you have any ideas about this, or any suggestions then please feel free to contribute to this forum topic.