Editorial: Pollution lessons are good for students

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For 15 years now, an event held at the start of the school year has helped put Farmington students on the right path toward protecting the earth.

Since 1996, the city of Farmington and several community partners have marked Pollution Prevention Week by bringing students lessons about making efficient use of resources, and about keeping pollution out of natural areas.

The lessons are fun. Students might play with a giant inflatable globe, or get a demonstration of what pollution can do to a clean water source. They get up close with animals and listen to music. It’s an entertaining day, but it has value that goes beyond getting students out and active in the park.

It’s important for students to learn how to care for the environment around them, and the classroom isn’t always the right place for those lessons. Sometimes the best lessons involve students getting their hands dirty – or at least keeping them busy.

Pollution Prevention Day is a wonderful example of the ways cooperation can help accomplish good things. The city cooperates with the school district, obviously, but also with partners like Dakota Electric, who help make the event possible.

That kind of cooperation is valuable. And it will become more important as resources beyond what you’ll find in the earth get harder to come by.

We look forward to many more years of Farmington fourth graders starting their school year with a lesson in the park.

Tags: opinion, farmington, editorials