Interesting Conversations with Teachers

Interesting Conversations with Teachers

Today during our visit at St. Theresa Primary School, I was talking with a Primary 7 class about environmental issues in Uganda when a nearby teacher asked my opinion about using food for fuel. I was very amazed with the question as most people with whom we have talked believe forestry and water issues are the biggest concerns. Together we talked to the students about the idea of turning corn or other crops into ethanol for the purposes of generating energy.

The teacher had heard on BBC Radio about the controversy surrounding this and he is very concerned about the impact this could have on world food supplies, and particulary on exports of grains to needy African countries. We talked about ways of producing more sustainable energy that don't involve converting vast areas of land to fuel production instead of food production. I also added that we "greedy" North Americans need to reduce our extraordinary energy consumption and stop using so much much energy-guzzling stuff!

A neat outcome of the conversation was that the students learned about wind energy for the first time. I was listing a few ways of making renewable energy when a boy put up his hand to ask how we can get electricity from the wind. I described the turbines and used a nearby tree as a scale to demonstrate how tall they can be. The students exclaimed with eyes huge with amazement and there were many thrilled voices chattering about the idea. A wonderful teaching moment!

Looking foward to more neat conversations in the coming days...

Alie