Environmental Responsibility

Environmental responsibility involves an organisation or company incorporating plans and actions that establish practices that preserve the environment and resources. This could include taking an environmental services pledge to shape the organisation’s philosophy, policies, and procedures; and how they review and assess the ongoing implementation, quality of the practice and areas undergoing improvement or review. Sustainability aims to use resources wisely so that they are maintained over the long term. Sustainability is the opposite of conspicuous consumption, where resources are used without care or reference for their value, renewability or future needs.

Activity 1A

Sustainability

Consider your interpretation of sustainability and answer the following questions:

• What do you feel about the concept of sustainability?
• What do you believe you could do on a large scale (around the world) and a small scale (in the home/service) to support sustainability?

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessment and professional practice.

Sustainability

Sustainability is often discussed and implemented, but what does it mean? There are many definitions, and people have different feelings about its relevance, importance, and how to ‘be’ sustainable. Sustainability aims to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sustainability can involve all aspects of one’s life, and in a children’s service, it includes:

• thinking and acting sustainably throughout daily routines 
• thoughtfully educating and engaging children in sustainable thinking, actions, and practices 
• involving families and the local community in the process 
• considering how your actions are impacting the planet.

Resource

To learn more about sustainability, visit the following link: We hear you - Taking an active role in the environment and promoting a sustainable future from the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).

Sustainability Development

Environmental responsibility is the motivator for sustainability, a long-term goal. A company’s action and operation processes for sustainable development are the pathways and steps it can take to become sustainable.

There are different ‘pillars’ considered necessary to create sustainability.

Sometimes culture is also included as another pillar for achieving sustainable development.

Environmental responsibility and sustainability rely on action – simply talking about them will not support and build a healthier, more sustainable world. Addressing sustainability and responsibility can start with small steps, building up to bigger steps over time.

Activity 1B

Pillars of sustainability

For each of the three pillars of sustainability, write down one (1) example of an action or process a service could employ to support that pillar for the greater good of humanity.

For example, a service could move towards economic sustainability by implementing a community reusable art box for families and community members to drop off unwanted materials suitable for children’s art experiences. This simple action is a more economically sustainable way of gathering art resources and could create savings in the service’s budget, where produced and purchased products were previously used.

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessment and professional practice.

Exploring people’s perception and treatment of the environment and observing how humans have altered the balance of nature through our lack of care can provide a starting point for educating children about sustainability. This information provides a basis to show children about environmentally responsible behaviour and practices that can be embedded in their lives for the benefit of the planet and future generations. Our children are our future world leaders and policymakers. Therefore, our children’s teachers must have the skills required to protect our world so they can be passed on knowledge.

Watch

Watch the video to learn about the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the work it does in education, science, and culture to build international cooperation and support sustainable development goals: UNESCO: The Lab of Ideas, the Lab for Change! by UNESCO 2:41 minutes.

We need to consider numerous considerations when we delve into environmental or sustainability issues. Some factors are possible to work towards in early childhood services; others are not, as the service may not have the level of control or influence required, or they may not be relevant to the service’s demographic.

Key Sustainability Issues

The following topics describe key sustainably issues and considerations:

• Global warming and climate change
• Pollution
• Overpopulation and resource depletion
• Abundance of waste
• Loss of biodiversity
• Deforestation
• Ocean acidification
• Water pollution
• Acid rain

Global warming and climate change

Global warming is the increase in global temperatures caused by the release of greenhouse gases, which trap heat. Climate change refers to the changes in the climate and weather patterns worldwide.

Watch

Watch these clips about global warming and climate change: 

What Is Global Warming, Explained from National Geographic 2:49 minutes.

ResourceSmart Schools Online Teacher Learning: Climate Change Basics in Victoria by Sustainability Victoria 10:01 minutes.

Pollution

The seven main types of pollution are air, water, soil, noise, radioactive, light, and thermal. All these types are interlinked and influence each other, causing many of the adverse effects on our environment we see today, which could take millions of years to undo.

Some of the worst pollutants are industry and motor exhaust (causing air pollution); oil (in oil spills), urban waste runoff and acid rain (causing water pollution); and industrial waste (causing soil pollution).

Watch

Watch the clip to learn more about pollution:

Causes and Effects of Climate Change from National Geographic 2:49 minutes

Read the following article to learn more about water pollution: Ocean Pollution: The Dirty Facts from the Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC).

Overpopulation and natural resource depletion

The human population of our planet is reaching an unsustainable level, where certain segments of the population are experiencing shortages of natural resources, including water, fuel, and food, due to the high demand, especially in poorer areas with a growing population.

Agriculture is needed to support the many communities of the world. farming involves clearing land that causes de-forestation and environmental damage. This destroys animal habitats and reduces trees which in turn reduces their ability to absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen.  Also farming animals cause greenhouse gasses to be produced that affect global warming. Farming also leads to pollution through utilising fertilisers, pesticides, and insecticides. In addition high populations mean more cars and industry and that increased carbon emissions. 

Human activity is threatening animals by removing their habitat and polluting their environments, so species are becoming extinct and reducing biodiversity.

Abundance of waste

The amount of waste pollution in water is at a catastrophic level. Overconsumption of things like plastic threatens the environment, with nonbiodegradable waste ending up in landfills and bodies of water.

There are many schemes in place to minimise waste, especially hazardous waste. Generally, less than 10% of all plastic waste produced is recycled.

Watch

Watch the clip to learn about why we waste so much: ResourceSmart Schools Online Teacher Learning: Why We Waste by Sustainability Victoria 15:39 minutes

Loss of biodiversity

The extinction of species and habitats equals biodiversity loss; destroyed ecosystems threaten many species. For example, habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change have led to a decline in bees available to pollinate food crops, which is a major concern for animals and humans alike. Biodiversity conservation aims to preserve and protect the animals, plants and micro-organisms that make up an environment. 

Watch

Watch the clip to learn more about biodiversity: What on Earth Is Biodiversity? by Conservation International 3:45 minutes

Deforestation

Deforestation is clearing trees to make the land available for residential, industrial, or commercial purposes. Having their habitats and protection disappear causes issues for many species of animals. Humans also suffer because trees act as air cleansers, so fewer trees mean lower air quality.

Ocean acidification

Humans are estimated to cause around 25% of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). As a direct impact of excessive CO2 production, ocean acidity has increased dramatically. By 2100, it may have increased by as much as 150%, impacting all sea life but predominately shellfish and plankton.

Water pollution

Water pollution is when water quality in a body of water is degraded by harmful substances (often chemicals or microorganisms), rendering it toxic to humans or the environment.

Resource

Read more about the various types of water pollution at the following links: Water Pollution: Everything You Need to Know from the NRDC.

Watch

Watch the video to learn about water pollution.

Causes and Effects of Water Pollution – Sustainability by Acciona 1:16 minutes

Acid rain

When pollutants in the atmosphere, such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide (the waste gases from burning fossil fuels), turn to rain, they contaminate and cause harm to communities and the environment, including wildlife. Acid rain will also contaminate bodies of water, harming aquatic species and polluting water supplies.

Watch

Watch the animation video to learn more about acid rain: Acid Rain by Kinetic School 4.50 minutes

Watch the video on the sad truth about the impact of mankind on the planet: Man by Steve Cutts 3:36 minutes.

Environmental Principles

Image sourced from WWF, 2020.

Australia’s key environmental law is the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The federal government jointly administers environmental protection with the state and territory governments and local governments. The federal government controls the assessment and approval of matters that impact national environmental and cultural concerns. At the same time, the state and territory governments have their own environmental protection legislation, which applies to specific business activities and their environmental impact.

The Act aims to provide a legal framework to ensure the environment is protected and supports the country’s economic and social needs. 

Based on the Act, there are environmental principles that can be identified to guide early childhood services.

Principle	Explanation	Example Consideration for Early Childhood Services
Ecological integrity and maintaining biological diversity	Conservation of biological diversity and ecological integrity should be a fundamental consideration.  This includes protecting all life forms: plants, animals, and micro-organisms, and understanding their place in their ecosystem.	A service should do what it can to protect outdoor areas from the children. Do not allow children to pick flowers, purposefully stand on plants, or capture or kill insects.
Integrating environmental, social, and economic considerations into decision-making	Environmental factors should be included in the valuation of assets and services, including those generating pollution and waste. Environmental goals, having been established, should be pursued in the most cost-effective way.	Services will need to assess how their environmentally conscious actions will impact their finances, both in the short term and long-term (such as the short-term high cost of buying high-quality natural materials versus buying cheap plastic items or the short-term cost of building a vegetable patch versus the savings in food purchasing in the future), and how role modelling sustainability may impact on the surrounding community.
Precautionary behaviour	Risk assessments should be implemented to examine the impact of practices and whether they could cause serious or irreversible damage. Businesses or organisations cannot state that ‘lack of evidence’ is the reason not to alter measures that put the environment at risk.	If a service decides to minimise its chemical use but cannot find a base of empirical research available to support the need to do so, it should still attempt to try. It is well understood that many chemicals are hazardous and, therefore, likely damaging to the environment. This common-sense reasoning should be enough to implement measures to reduce chemical use.
Equity for each generation and between generations	Today’s generations must ensure the health and well-being of the planet for the benefit of future generations and their quality of life.	All decisions should reflect the concept of ‘sustainability’, meaning they should look to protect the environment for generations to come. For example, teaching children not to waste water will mean future generations should have better access to usable water.
Waste minimisation	All reasonable and practicable measures should be taken to minimise waste generation and its discharge into the environment.	A service may serve smaller portions of meals to children (with seconds available if needed) to minimise food wastage.  A service may also consider reducing such things as water waste and waste from play resources.
Democracy and governance	The process of informing participation and maintaining transparency with communities in situations with potential environmental impact.	A service may inform families that they are implementing a no-chemicals approach to service practices, which may cause some families to question how the service will maintain hygiene safety. A service must be prepared with research to back up the safety of its practices while maintaining a collaborative relationship with families and allowing information transparency.
Involving the community	Collaboration and involvement of communities in environmental efforts work towards long-term goals for sustainability.	A service may implement a community approach to its food menus and use more seasonal foods. Recipes to support the menus could be collected by engaging families and service gardens for growing food, and local food suppliers could be used to minimise the eco-footprint of the service.
Continual improvement	Continual improvement is required for sustainability processes, including containing and minimising the impacts of waste and environmental pollutants.	Services should include environmental responsibility and sustainability in their quality improvement plan (QIP), demonstrating their short- and long-term goals for improvement.
Emissions	Companies need to take action to identify and minimise the production of greenhouse gases.	A service could assess local suppliers for all products (minimising transport logistics), reuse items and install power-saving strategies (solar systems, timers for lights, natural lighting, etc.).
Consumption	Organisations should identify their overconsumption of the world’s resources and promote efficient and sustainable use of energy, water, paper, and other resources.	A service could start to minimise its food servings to reduce food wastage, use food wastage for a worm farm or compost, find reusable alternates to single-use products, implement strategies to minimise paper and material use, or carefully select only relevant toy resources with long life spans.
Transport	Companies should be aware and identify the overuse of non-sustainable transport and look for more alternatives where possible.	A service could use local or ‘home-grown’ services to minimise the impact of logistics. It may implement the use of public transport for excursions instead of using privately hired buses.
Infrastructure	It is important to ensure sustainability principles are compliantly implemented by building any infrastructure.	All changes to a service should be considered through a sustainability lens. Services need to assess how they currently operate to make improvements to infrastructure (e.g., improvements to the water supply of the building, increased use of natural lighting instead of electric lights, eco- products implemented wherever practical).
Compliance	Organisations must comply with all environmental legislation, regulations, and policies.	Services must remain in line with environmental legislation and frameworks supplied by the local, state/territory and national governments. International environmental law will also apply where relevant if it does not conflict with local guidance.
Monitoring	Monitoring and assessing environmental performance against targets is necessary to keep on track.	A service may utilise its Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) to self-evaluate internal and external sustainability practices.
Communication	Organisations should communicate their environmental performance to all staff and stakeholders and encourage participation and feedback.	A service could share and praise the work of its workers and community via notice boards, newsletters, or local community events, demonstrating how the service is working in an environmentally responsible manner (and continuously improving). This can promote eco practices, inspire others, and provide an observable record of how far the service has improved its practices for a sustainable world.

Resource

To learn more about environmental principles, visit the link to Statement of Environmental Principles, Factors and Objectives by the Government of Western Australia Environmental Protection Authority.

Activity 1C

Ecological impact

Part 1

Use the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) ecological footprint calculator to find out how you are using the earth’s resources: What Is Your Ecological Footprint? from the WWF.

List four (4) things you do or have done that have a negative environmental impact and find solutions to minimise their impact.

Part 2

Identify four (4) specific ways a service could improve its ecological footprint.

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessment and professional practice.

Case Study

Acquiring an understanding of sustainability, environmental responsibility and how they can play a part in supporting the planet requires education. Educators assist children in gaining an understanding of sustainability concepts and how to uphold them. Why we should save our water and plant can be difficult for children to grasp, and educators must carefully consider how to effectively communicate this information so that children can understand and not just present it in a tokenistic manner.

Think

Consider the image of the herb garden – what would make it tokenistic, and what would make it a valuable embedded sustainable practice? 

Tokenistic

Embedded Sustainable Practice

A service has decided to undertake a new sustainable practice. The toddlers’ room decides to set up a herb garden. The herb garden is set up outside by the educators, with minimal assistance from the children who do not understand the concept of growing herbs. Once the seeds have been planted, the educators sporadically initiate discussions with the children about the herbs. After a few months, weeds have grown over the herbs, and the garden remains unkept. However, the service still highlights the herb garden in its sustainability policy and environmental plan.

A service has been teaching its kindergarten children about vegetables and herbs and the lifecycle of growing plants. The kindergarten teacher and chef feel the centre is ready to create a veggie patch and herb garden that will be looked after by the kindergarten children and then used in the daily meals by the chef. Twelve months later, the kindergarten has a well-established vegetable patch. The children take turns each week to water the plants, turn the soil and pick herbs and veggies to be cooked in the service’s kitchen.

Watch

To learn about embedding sustainable practices, watch this three-part series: Embedding Sustainable Practices by ECA Learning Hub on YouTube

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Key focus areas

Environmental sustainability planning in children’s education and care will consider key areas of focus and associated contemporary sustainability practices and environmental responsibility:

Key focus area	Definition	Sustainability practices
Biodiversity	Biodiversity is the variety of different animals, plants, fungi, and micro-organisms, such as bacteria, that can be found in any area. Each area has a different ecosystem depending on the location, e.g., marine, desert, rain forest or terrestrial.	Building children’s awareness of the differences and variety of plants. Animals and micro-organisms. Encouraging children to care for their local environment to ensure a sustainable future.
Curriculum	The curriculum is all the interactions, experiences, activities, and routines planned and unplanned to promote children’s learning and development.	Ensure that a child-centred curriculum is in place to provide children with choice, to be involved in decision making and set goals and activities in the curriculum in building a curriculum about sustainability practices.
Eco-friendly material usage	Eco-friendly materials from their production and maintenance have a low environmental impact.	Services use sustainable materials such as wooden toys and blocks, loose parts and recycled materials, e.g., food boxes, aluminium cans and toilet rolls. Services also use environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Eco-literacy for children	Children’s ability to understand and have knowledge of natural systems on earth.	Children are provided with information to build their understanding that without a healthy environment, life is threatened. Buying books with environmental content and using practices that reduce the environmental impact.
Energy	Using energy wisely and being aware of energy conservation by using sustainable practices in childcare services.	Educators role model energy use and water conservation. Children are encouraged to save energy by turning off lights when leaving a room, closing doors to reduce heat loss or heat entering a room and reducing the use of single-use materials.
Water	Using water wisely to conserve it recognises it is a limited and valuable commodity.	Services use half flush toilets, save water by using rainwater tanks, and turning the water off when hand washing or teeth cleaning.
Natural environment	An environment that includes all-natural elements. It can be set up indoors or be an outdoor space.	Providing experiences using the natural environment enhances children’s attitudes to care for the environment and improves their development, problem-solving and creativity.
Recycling	Materials that can be reused and re-purposed to support sustainability.	Teaching children to care for the environment by recycling materials for art, craft, and imaginative play items. Sorting garbage and recycling plastics, glass, and paper.
Toxins	Materials used to manage pests and for cleaning can be toxic.	Services can select environmentally friendly cleaning products such as bleach, soap and water, vinegar and essential oils. Services use lower toxic chemicals to control pests and manage the environment to reduce pest infestation, e.g., removing standing water so mosquitos cannot breed and containing garbage to avoid rats, cockroaches and ants.
Upcycling	Using materials that would have been discarded and repurposing them into new products.	Services can transform original items into something better, for example, using plastic soft drink bottles as planters for a hanging garden, using old wooden plates as a stage or making leftover floor tiles into a mosaic tabletop.
Waste (including food waste)	Waste is items and materials thrown out into a bin that will be collected and disposed of in a landfill. In childcare, 30% of waste is food, and 25% is paper and cardboard.	Compost bins and worm farms for food waste can be used to improve the soil in the garden. Developing a recycling program for paper, plastics, and jars/bottles. Educating children and families to send food in that is not packaged and processed.

Children as Partners

It is important to have discussions with children about sustainable practices and protecting their world: What do they understand? What are they already doing at home, and do they understand why it is being done?

Children usually have many ideas for how we could better look after our world.

Conversations about sustainability may be organised to take place during planned group discussions or intentional teaching, and spontaneous discussions may arise throughout the children’s time at the service – children may discuss their exploration of the world or experiments they have conducted.

You can gain an insight into the understanding children have about environmental issues by:

• Asking for feedback from families or the community about sustainability actions currently being taken that the child/children have been exposed to or a part of
• Organising projects for the children based on their interest in protecting and caring for their world
• Asking children for their sustainability planning ideas 

It is vital to try to take advantage of a child’s natural interest when learning. Utilising ‘windows of opportunity’ can mean the difference between a child adopting certain practices because they understand their benefit and a child following practices just because they have been asked to do so.

Age-Appropriate Implementation

What is the children’s capacity to grasp the concepts of environmental responsibility? When children are young, they do not need to have conversations about or understand how using recycled paper for painting or making homemade playdough instead of using bought playdough is environmentally and economically sustainable. They can just be encouraged to engage in the practice. Nothing more is required. Much of what we do is learned from repetition and experience. For example, if we only ever use bought playdough, how will we know there is another or better way to obtain it?

As children develop their cognitive function, they will be better equipped to understand the impacts of what we do on the environment. However, it is still beneficial to implement environmentally responsible practices holistically within the curriculum (e.g., in planned experiences, spontaneous teachable moments and daily routines). Planned learning opportunities can support the beginning of understanding sustainability and environmental issues through:

• Helping children to understand one sustainability issue at a time (e.g., all focus is on saving water)
• Having children actively participate in the environmentally responsible practice (e.g., using suitable wastewater to water the gardens)
• Asking children questions about why we might implement certain practices, encouraging reasoning and thinking
• Explaining how certain practices better preserve the environment, e.g., explaining where water comes from, that there is a limit to useable water, and how we can use wastewater (which would otherwise be going down the sink) instead of new water for certain purposes
• Scaffolding children’s environmental knowledge with new areas for contemplation that they may begin to think about themselves
• Encouraging community and home practices that reflect and enhance the concepts being taught
• Teaching about and making connections to the sustainable practices utilised by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

Activity 1D

Sustainable practices and environmental responsibility

Research current sustainable practices and environmental responsibility in early childhood service online.

List six (6) different experiences or tasks you could undertake with children at a service to assist their understanding of environmental responsibility.

Next, answer the following questions for one (1) of the experiences you listed:

• What age group does the experience best suit?
• What sustainable practice does the experience teach children?
• What language, words and phrases could you use to explain the concept of the practice and how it benefits the environment in a manner the children will understand?
• What questions might you ask the children to challenge their understanding?
• How could you implement this practice long-term?
• How could you encourage home practices that reflect this concept?

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessment and professional practice.

Think

Review quotes about environmental responsibility at 50 Inspirational Quotes About Children and Nature from Mother Natured.

Choose a quote that resonates with you and consider why it stands out. Would this be an area you are more likely to engage children in because you feel strongly about it?

Using Experience to Foster Passion and Care 

Directly connecting and involving children in nature and sustainable practices assist in building empathy for the environment.

Children need to be connected to the natural world to care for it. Developing a love for nature drives a passion for caring for and being responsible for it. Learning that things die if stepped on, not cared for, or not protected gives children a sense of responsibility for the survival of other living things. Spending time in nature – with the trees, plants, insects, and animals – gives children the opportunity to experience its wonder, and with that wonder, they can build care towards it.

Children as Active Citizens

Services can engage children in numerous ways to become environmentally responsible. Services can use strategies that improve children’s experiences and understanding of the natural environment and skills for environmental sustainability. Services can embed sustainability into all practical daily routines and practices.

Services can inform children of biodiversity and the benefits of nature for humans, including ideas such as:

• Develop gardens where children can grow their plants and contribute to their care. Include growing edible plants to demonstrate the farm-to-table cycle: Apples do not come from ‘the shops’ but from a tree – they are planted and nurtured.
• Involve children in food preparation to encourage children to be excited to eat what they have grown or made and to reduce wastage. Cooking provides an opportunity to discuss how food products can be made into meals.
• Give children opportunities for sensory exploration: Let them investigate, feel, and smell sand, mud, bark, stones, rocks, gum nuts, flowers, water, leaves, etc. and assist them in finding out the answers to any questions they ask.
• Do not limit exploration to the outdoors only. Implement opportunities to engage with natural materials indoors as well.
• Draw attention to and investigate and encourage interest in local fauna (e.g., butterflies, birds, and insects). 
• When talking about bees, instead of teaching children to be afraid, remind them why we need bees and encourage them to wonder about what the bees are doing.
• Use compost or worm farms to help children understand how to minimise or use waste. A worm farm could be used to encourage children to think about how worms help the environment.
• Educators can role model desirable behaviours, such as saving water and paper and being curious and caring ‘out loud’ so the children can hear how you question and consider things too (e.g., saying ‘Oops! I better watch the ants there. I don’t want to squash them. They are very busy taking food home to their nest.’)

Resources

Create a sustainability portfolio for children by listing ways you can support their environmental education.

To help you with ideas for the portfolio, you may like to visit these links:

• Indigenous Australians and the Environment by Britannica Kids
• 10 Ideas for Teaching Kids About Sustainable Living from ABC Education
• 15 Sustainability Activities for Kids from the Living Montessori Education Community
• Sustainability from Stepping Stone Childcare
• Resources from the CERES School of Nature and Climate

Services will sometimes have tension between embedding environmentally sound practices and meeting the needs of parents and children to receive high-quality care. Services must balance the health and safety of children and economic realities.

Ethical dilemmas in sustainability practices can include:

• Resource allocation when staff are busy and throw food scraps in a bin rather than collect them and move them into compost later. 
• Health and safety concerns for upcycled items, e.g., wooden pallets used in play that have rough edges and cause splinters.
• Environmentally friendly cleaning products may not clean as effectively as harsher chemicals.
• Ethical considerations when using food for craft, e.g., potato stamps or dried pasta jewellery, when some families and cultures may have limited access to food to eat and the service is using it for play.

Practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are intrinsically and spiritually connected to the earth, land, water, air, community, flora, fauna, and ecosystems.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have long used practices to ‘read’ the environment and provide what nature needs for survival, which is ultimately needed for the survival of their communities. They have always used sustainable practices in their day-to-day management of the land and the interconnectedness and interdependence of all life forms. These practices include growing plants where needed to sustain environments, using fire for controlling ecosystems and knowing the appropriate times to fish, hunt and harvest crops. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consider natural regeneration, cycles, and patterns as ‘law’, and interrupting them is seen as an act against the laws of nature. They are always considering a sustainable concept known as the ‘survival of seven generations’.

Concept

The ‘survival of seven generations’ is a concept that focuses on the decisions made in the present (especially regarding the world’s energy, water, and natural resources) and ensuring the decisions support the sustainability of life seven generations into the future.

Aboriginal Sustainability Concepts

Mother Earth as a Life-Giving Force	In many Aboriginal languages, ‘Mother Earth’ is depicted as a living person, which means that if we desecrate her, she may no longer be living.
Laws of Nature	There is a time and season for all life-sustaining activities. For example, care is taken to ensure the animal laws are upheld, such as not killing animals during their reproductive cycles to support their ongoing sustainability as a species.
Life-Sustaining Elements of the World	Air: The essential element of life Earth: The provider of the resources needed for survival Fire: The provider of sun, heat, and light Water: What makes life possible through its nurturing capacities Balance among these four basic elements is essential, making life possible and sustainable.
Interrelationships and Interconnectedness	Do not take life for granted. Each living thing needs other beings and resources for survival and has its role in our planet's life.

Watch

Watch the video on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s perspective on sustainability: Indigenous Perspective on Sustainability from ABC Education 3:29 minutes

Alert

We would like to advise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers to be aware that this Learner Guide may contain images of deceased persons or provide links to content that may contain names, images, voices, or videos of deceased persons.

Resource

The Little Green Steps program promotes and supports sustainability in early learning services. Read about what they do here: Little Green Steps: In Your Childcare Centre from Little Green Steps.

Action starts with a service’s philosophy, policies, procedures, educator passion, and, of course, the National Quality Framework, which reminds us that children are to be encouraged to be responsible for their world and taught to be active citizens. 

Quality Area 3: Physical Environment of the National Quality Standards aims to ensure that a child’s physical learning environment is suitable and safe and promotes a wide range of opportunities to promote children’s learning and development. Standard 3.2.3 requires that the service displays care for the environment and aims to develop environmental responsibility in children.

In the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), children’s environmental education is supported through:

• Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
• Outcome 2.1: Children develop a sense of belonging to groups and communities and an understanding of the reciprocal rights and responsibilities necessary for active community participation. 
• Outcome 2.4: Children become socially responsible and show respect for the environment.

The Education and Care Services National Regulations (2011) set out the underpinning requirements for physical environments under Part 4.3. This includes fencing, furniture, toilet facilities, and indoor and outdoor space. Regulation 113 sets out the requirements of Outdoor space – the natural environment.

Standards, policies, and procedures on environmental responsibility for the service will link to the standards in the National Quality Framework related to:

• Educational programs and practices
• Health and safety
• The physical environment.

Policies could also include a sustainability policy that guides the service's actions towards being environmentally responsible. 

To meet the requirements of Quality Area: 3.2 – environmental responsibility, a service will have an environmental policy to set out its beliefs and actions to achieve this standard. The policy will have a purpose statement outlining its commitment to the environment and sustainability practices. The policy will also include implementation actions that the service will take. 

You can review the ML7 Sustainability Policy and Procedure for Little.Ly Early Learning Centre by logging into:

Little.ly Early Learning Centre, a simulated childcare centre. Access information and policy and procedure documents associated with Little.ly.  This can be done by logging in to the Educator Hub on Little.ly's website with the following credentials: Username: SOE Password: earlychildhood

Resource

Read about encouraging environmentally responsible practices in children at this link: More Than a Worm Farm: Supporting Children to be Environmentally Responsible from ACECQA We Hear You.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 294 reminds us that: 

Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

• (d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society in the spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples, ethnic, national, and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin
• (e) The development of respect for the natural environment.

Activity 1E

Environmental responsibility in a service

Part 1

Visit the Little.ly website and review Little.ly Early Learning Centre’s philosophy and relevant policies and procedures, and answer the following questions:

• How does the centre incorporate environmental responsibility into its philosophy, policies, and procedures?
• How might the centre’s environmental responsibility be demonstrated?

Part 2

Read the information on Education for Sustainability from the University of Adelaide.

Then answer these questions:

• What resources would you consider eco-friendly? Why?
• How can you source environmentally friendly resources?

Download and complete the template table (which includes example entries) with the details of eco-friendly resources that a service could utilise:

Environmental Responsibility Area template

Reviewing Environmentally Responsible Practices

Sustainable practices should link to the services philosophies and practices. Services have processes to review sustainability practices and ensure they align with the policies, procedures, and programs. These processes may include:

• Staff/room meetings/discussions
• Critical reflection activities by educators
• Professional development opportunities for sustainability
• Reviewing existing sustainability programs
• Comparing the services sustainability practices against currently accepted practices in environmental responsibility
• Gathering feedback from discussions with children and their families and communities
• Conducting surveys to invite family and community contributions and ideas.

Tools can be used to review current service practices and to identify improvements: 

• A quality improvement plan
• An audit of sustainable practices quarterly/annually
• A formal review of the service philosophy, policies and procedures against sustainability practices and goals. Stakeholders can be involved in the review and assist in identifying changes and improvements. 

The results of these actions and reviews will inform needed changes and support improvements to the service’s environmental responsibility plan (ERP). 

Resource

You can download this Environmental Responsibility Area Review template to review sustainability practices in a service.

An environmental responsibility plan (also called a ‘sustainability plan’) can take any form. Its main objective is like a Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) in that it records what you are doing to support a concept, why the concept is important to incorporate, who might be responsible for incorporating it (e.g., a sustainability team) and how they plan to implement new ideas.

Some ideas can be costly or take time to implement, so practicality matters when considering implementation. If progress is demonstrated, the service will know they are heading in the right direction. Making short- and long-term goals for environmental responsibility is important – you will need to consider what is possible now, in six months, a year or further down the line. For example, many services plan to implement one new environmentally responsible practice every year or every six months.

Example

Take a look at two universities’ sustainability plans:

• Sustainability Plan 2017–2020 from the University of Melbourne.
• Environmental Sustainability Plan 2019–21 from the University of Sydney.

Activity 1F

Environmental Responsibility Plan

Revisit the Little Green Steps program you read about in section 1.3 of this unit. You can also find out some more information about another implemented program.

Develop an Environmental Responsibility Plan to support the policies, practices, and findings of the audit checklist – consider this a guide to goals you might want to set. Your ERP will typically include:

• Commitment statements (goals)
• Timelines
• Review dates
• A comments or improvements section

Review this example ERP goal and, using the template add three (3) commitments to your plan, and document key information about the commitments. 

Download the template and complete the table:

Environmental Responsibility Plan template

Environmental Responsibility Plan
Commitment	Minimise water wastage
Why it is needed	To teach children about local and worldwide sustainability and saving water for future generations (reflections and action). To save on water costs
Who will implement it	Children All staff, incl. educators Families The community The sustainability team
Resources required	Tubs to gather water waste Watering cans Signs to remind staff and children to save water
Leader/responsible person	Lead: Shizuko Team: Danni, Yinki, Brock, Alma
Timeline	Implement and establish - three months
Review date	Review Date 15th March
Comments/improvement areas	The service could plant gardens, which can support the needs of local fauna; trees, which will provide shade; and plants that produce herbs and vegetables, which can be utilised in the service kitchen. The service could use appropriate wastewater for the vegetation. Feedback/improvement: Water was often not saved due to the stakeholders forgetting to do it throughout the busy day. Implement strategies for reminding all stakeholders to save wastewater every day.

Involving Stakeholders

All stakeholders should have the opportunity to contribute to the environmental responsibility plan and should be encouraged to engage and participate in the goals around the centre and even in their homes.

Strategies to involve stakeholders can include:

• Ensure, firstly, that families are informed – promote the relevant information everywhere! Inform families why it is important to the world and all people, especially children, to be environmentally conscious.
• Encourage children and families to carry on environmentally responsible actions outside the service, e.g., recycling, composting, re-using, up-cycling, and becoming involved in community sustainability projects.
• Be passionate and know the answers to common questions. People want to follow passionate people – it is contagious! Promote sustainability information and practices and show them the planet needs their help and participation to make the greatest difference.
• Share information regularly about how everyone can support goals anywhere in the community or at the service.
• Provide updates to families and other staff on how the children have supported and embraced the implementation. Encourage children to share information they learn with others.
• Suggest sustainable practices that are practical and easy to implement. Start with the basics – do not ask everyone to start their own worm farm at home on week one. 
• Frame environmental responsibility as a ‘code of practice’ to be adhered to – this will demonstrate how seriously a service is taking its environmental responsibility.
• Encourage engagement with literature, songs, activities, practices, and ideas at home, in the community and in the service that promote sustainability concepts further.
• Build a sustainability team of stakeholders to take plans and apply them in practice. 
• Appoint children as ‘energy officers’ to monitor practices and encourage others to adopt energy-saving actions, e.g., using water play to water the garden when the activity is completed or being the designated person to take the food scraps to the compost bin after lunch.

Key stakeholders should also be involved in developing the environmental responsibility plan (ERP). Using stakeholders can include:

• Children can be invited to contribute ideas about areas of focus to promote their engagement in sustainability
• Families can be part of the sustainability team and contribute to environmental audits and improvements that can be made to build more sustainable practices. Families can also review sustainability policies.
• Educators and management in the service can develop and review sustainability policies and procedures. They can be involved in environmental audits and include areas of improvement in the ERP.
• Community stakeholders can include members of the local community, First Nation people and elders, community services and facilities, e.g., libraries. The community can be invited to input into the plan as well as support strategies that are identified. For example, a local charity shop may receive recycled clothing and goods that the service collects, dropping cans for cash to the local scout or girl guides group.

Reviewing the Environmental Responsibility Plan

All plans require review to ensure things are working and being implemented appropriately. A review will consider if a plan is not working or being implemented, why, what improvements can be made and whether you need to start with something simpler. The review will involve an investigation into the level of engagement that stakeholders have in the ERP.

You will need to consider whether a goal has been met and whether you could scaffold or build upon the results. Perhaps a service could not get resources, equipment, or information in time to meet the timeline, or it is still waiting for funding. Perhaps there has been insufficient buy-in from the children and families.

Whatever the review, good or bad, document the results, and return to the documentation to ensure progress is being made. Documentation can occur using digital media, such as a digital device, to share information. Technology can be used, such as computers and programs in MS Word. In addition, reports on outcomes could be recorded in a spreadsheet to allow the calculation of quantitative data such as Excel. Using digital media allows reports and plans to be created, edited, and stored in a digital form.

You can ask the children or their families to help review goals or commitments and express how they feel about the progress: Is there learning happening; are they passionate about sustainable practices; are they genuinely taking them on board; do they want more information or ideas for sustainable living? 

The review of ERP and sustainability practices can include evaluation methods, such as:

• Qualitative methods include observing and describing practices and using open-text questionnaires. Services can review environmentally friendly cleaning products to identify how ‘green’ the ingredients are and if they are working well
• Quantitative methods gather data and statistics to measure outcomes (often numerical data). Services can examine statistics, such as the quantity of paper saved, food waste reused, and the percentage of environmentally friendly cleaning products used and share the data with stakeholders.

The results of the review and actions achieved in the ERP should also be shared with the supervisor. The implementation team can use the report they completed to provide feedback to management about the progress of sustainability objectives. Management will be accountable for reporting these outcomes to the board or management committee. The service will also use the results during service reviews and ratings as they link to the national quality framework.

Activity 1G

Review your Environmental Responsibility Plan that you developed for Learning Activity 1F.

Review your commitment and consider improvements that could be made:

• How might these improvements be implemented?
• When will it be practical to implement the improvements?
• Who will be most responsible for the implementation?
• How will you know the improvement has worked and that the children have understood the change?

Ensure that you keep notes for future reference, as this information will support your assessment and professional practice.

Successful Change

The success of embedding sustainability actions can be supported by having a change management lens on the implementation strategy. Services are well advised to incorporate the principles of change management to ensure the success of their ERP. 

Change initiatives can be most successful when the service uses core change management principles of:

1. Understanding the benefits of the change (and what are the adverse outcomes if the change did not occur)
2. A planned approach to the change
3. Carry out the plan and implement the change (providing training as needed)
4. Communicate the plan to staff so it is relevant to them, and they understand and embrace the change
5. Measure the performance, identify what is not working and implement actions to fix these 

Barriers can include change resistance, lack of time, breaking old habits, questions about the value of sustainability, and management’s failure to consult and communicate the benefits of the change and the services culture when encountering change.

Drivers for behavioural change include adequate consultation and communication where input is welcomed and incorporated into the change initiative. Services can also share data on progress and celebrate the wins.

While service may endeavour to have all staff on board and participating in sustainable practices, creating an implementation team with those most passionate and knowledgeable about the practice is vital when developing and embedding practices. Using people with a sphere of influence will allow their passion and enthusiasm to encourage others to view sustainability differently and create a positive culture within the service.    

Remember, when undertaking a new sustainable practice and embedding it into your service, you should not rush or put staff under pressure. Ideally, a service will implement one or two new sustainable practices within a year to focus on embedding and perfecting one practice before developing another. This will ensure practices are properly embedded in the service and not tokenistic.