Employees of the Sharp Electronics Corporation were at Joyce Kilmer Elementary School in Mahwah, N.J., recently to teach a lesson on climate change and renewable energy. The cartoon image of an ailing Earth — a thermometer sticking out of its mouth — was the opening slide in their presentation. Climate change and energy are complex issues, so I was interested to observe how they would be distilled by the Japanese electronics giant — and one of the world’s largest makers of solar panels — to an audience of 10- and 11-year-olds. I recently sat in the back of a fifth-grade class and listened in.
Employees of the Sharp Electronics Corporation were at Joyce Kilmer Elementary School in Mahwah, N.J., recently to teach a lesson on climate change and renewable energy. The cartoon image of an ailing Earth — a thermometer sticking out of its mouth — was the opening slide in their presentation.
Climate change and energy are complex issues, so I was interested to observe how they would be distilled by the Japanese electronics giant — and one of the world’s largest makers of solar panels — to an audience of 10- and 11-year-olds. I recently sat in the back of a fifth-grade class and listened in.
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Martha Harvey, an associate manager in Sharp’s strategic marketing division, started the class by asking, “Who knows what climate change is?†She called on a few raised hands and received guesses of “A change of weather?†and “A change of climate?†before offering her own answer:
“It turns out that the temperature of the Earth is actually rising,†she said.
Ms. Harvey then asked if anyone knew what C02Â is.
“Carbon dioxide,†a student answered.
Ms. Harvey explained that carbon dioxide is actually a good thing, because it helps keep the Earth’s atmosphere warm, but the problem is that there’s now too much of it.
Sharp began its Solar Academy program in the United States in October 2008 (PDF) and so far has presented it at a handful of elementary schools in California (near the company’s solar division in Huntington Beach), and in New York and New Jersey (Sharp’s corporate headquarters in the United States are in Mahwah).
Article Continues:http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/marketing-solar-panels-to-fifth-graders/
