DOMI Earth creates Climate Education for the Next Generation. This article is a translation from UDN, highlighting DOMI Earth's commitment to climate education for the next generation and its innovative approach to making climate change understandable to three-year-olds.
Is it difficult to teach children about climate change? The answer is no. DOMI Earth co-founder and sustainability officer, Tammy, sees the unlimited potential in children from her own three kids. For her, climate action is not only for corporations and adults but also for three-year-olds who are willing to take action. Everyone has the power to change the world.
Climate change affects the lives of all humanity, and understanding climate issues and saving the Earth cannot wait until one grows up. UNESCO once called in 2021 for environmental education to become a core curriculum in schools by 2025, highlighting the international community's recognition of the importance of rooting climate education from a young age.
"Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction" extends from corporations to families, all because she was terrified by motorcycle exhaust fumes.
DOMI Earth was born to change the world. Years ago, Tammy's family fled Beijing's air pollution and returned to their hometown Kaohsiung, only to find the environment dirty, the weather hotter day by day, and motorcycle and car exhaust fumes everywhere on the streets.
She recalled pushing the stroller with her second child, who was just a few months old, waiting at the traffic light when suddenly motorcycles around them started up, "I didn't know what to do at the moment; I quickly picked up my daughter and ran to the other side of the road, leaving the stroller behind. Thinking about it now, it feels silly." Various discomforts made her realize climate change is happening around us, prompting her to start a company addressing climate change.
DOMI Earth's core philosophy is to help corporations and families take climate action through "energy conservation and carbon reduction." Tammy believes that if corporations themselves don't understand sustainability, their employees won't change their thinking and actions when they return home. Helping corporations establish a sustainability blueprint and entering the tenth year, Tammy sees corporations joining the transformation, but always facing internal conflicts due to a lack of consensus and culture within the team, making sustainability hard to implement.
She frankly said, "If you place five sustainability reports in front of me, cover the company names, and just look at the content, you can't tell which is which. They're all similar, like how much money was invested in solar panels, water-saving devices, supporting charitable organizations, etc. It's clear that companies haven't found their niche to exert social and environmental impact."
DOMI Earth helps corporations find a sense of mission through the Minus Plus Model, eliminating unnecessary resource wastage within the company and giving back to society, solving issues like energy poverty, tree planting, children's education, etc.
Picture book readings and science experiments make energy education fun.
DOMI Earth assists corporations in implementing sustainable development plans and acts as a consultant, recently started workshops specifically for employees' children, leading kids aged 3 to 10 through picture book readings and science experiments with a core focus on saving energy, learning through play to eliminate the "energy monsters" in life. Tammy cited DOMI's unique DOMI Timer as an example, allowing children to disassemble and assemble the timer by hand, thereby understanding the principles of standby power and timer operation.
Tammy explained that the reason for targeting such young children is partly that as they grow older, the pressure of advancing in education increases, learning anything becomes purposeful, and it's hard to naturally integrate sustainability concepts into their thoughts; on the other hand, children always want to protect the Earth and "do big things," with stronger action and more direct responses. She observed from parent-child beach cleaning and mountain cleaning activities organized by corporations, "Children would pick up trash and scold at the same time, wondering who threw these things here?"
The children's unfiltered reactions and their heart to defend the Earth gave Tammy a lot of satisfaction in promoting climate education, making her exclaim that "teaching adults about energy conservation and carbon reduction is really too difficult!"
Have you heard of anyone taking supplementary classes in environmental education?
But perhaps even more challenging is convincing parents to support climate education. Although the government has begun to introduce environmental and climate education into schools, the emphasis on academic advancement and the overall fragmented planning remain issues. Tammy stated, "From a young age, everyone goes to tutoring for English, math, and science, but have you ever heard of anyone going for environmental education? In fact, the importance of climate education is on par with other subjects, and the concept must be established from a young age." This is also why DOMI Earth chose to continue the B2B model, starting from within corporations, convincing corporations to pay, allowing employees to bring their children to participate in courses, and starting with changing the children of corporate employees.
But at such a young age, do children really understand what energy conservation is? Hu Deqi humorously mentioned that when her daughter was 3 or 4 years old, one day she took her to a restaurant, and as soon as they entered, her daughter pointed at the lights in the restaurant and said, "Mom, these aren't LED lights!" When the children participate in corporate tree planting activities, they also become curious, wondering who will take care of these trees afterward? When it comes to sensitivity towards sustainability, children are in no way inferior to adults.
As a busy entrepreneur, what parenting secrets does Tammy have to "implant" the concept of sustainability in her children's minds? She honestly admits that she never deliberately taught her three children about climate change, environmental protection, and other knowledge, but rather, they absorbed these concepts through the conversations of adults in their daily lives, which gradually internalized into their own values, "Unknowingly, they have absorbed many correct concepts while following me through the entrepreneurial process."
Advocating Power to Change, the daily practice remains fraught with difficulties
The unique family education establishes good concepts for the children but also brings shocks. Tammy gave an example, her eldest daughter recently participated in a camping event organized by her school, and the teacher reminded everyone to bring their own eco-friendly utensils beforehand. However, when it came to the barbecue time for dinner, the classmates still flocked to ask the teacher for disposable plates and cutlery. Her daughter kindly reminded everyone that they could use their own utensils, but was unexpectedly asked by a classmate, "Are you going to wash the dishes for us?" The classmates even directly threw a whole bag of unfinished vegetables and bread into the trash can; she rushed forward to salvage them but only managed to save a piece of bread.
Tammy said her eldest daughter couldn't understand why the teacher, who was present, didn't stop these things from happening. She came home very disappointed and said to Tammy, "You said we all have the power to change, but I can't even convince everyone to use eco-friendly utensils, what more can I change in the world?" Tammy patiently brainstormed with her daughter, imagining what solutions could be proposed if she were the teacher.
Tammy bluntly stated that there are too many things within the social system that conflict with the values of children at home, all of which made Tammy realize that simply sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher explain what the atmosphere is and what carbon dioxide is, it's just not enough. Climate and environmental education must start from everyday life, just like in the green energy workshops, where they accompany children in finding climate actions that can be implemented in daily life.
From indifference to caring! It starts with seeing carbon reduction opportunities everywhere
Compared to dry knowledge learning, Tammy believes that cultivating leadership and communication skills is more important. She pointed out, "There are many consultants who can provide assistance with carbon reduction and energy-saving technologies, but what's important is to understand the significance of things through dialogue and experience, and that's when thoughts will change."
Education requires long-term cultivation, and Tammy emphasizes that in the future, she will continue to develop new courses and workshops under the framework of AGC Transition Institute at DOMI. Regardless of the form of teaching, the core philosophy is to lead the participating adults and children from not caring, not knowing where to start with carbon reduction, to starting to care about the environment and seeing life filled with carbon reduction opportunities. In the face of irreversible climate change, what roles should corporations and families play? It is essential to bring about change every day in work and life with the right mindset and leadership, only by changing one's mindset and taking action can one influence more people around.
