A Demonstration of the Potentials of Collaboration between University Students and Schoolchildren in Community Environmental Action

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Children, Youth and Environments 17(1), 2007 A Demonstration of the Potentials of Collaboration between University Students and Schoolchildren in Community Environmental Action Fumiyo Murayama Azabu University Kanagawa, Japan Citation: Murayama, Fumiyo (2007). “A Demonstration of the Potentials of Collaboration between University Students and Schoolchildren in Community Environmental Action.” Children, Youth and Environments 17(1): 322-325. Keywords: environmental education, university-community collaboration, Japan Environmental participation projects by youth and children are positively reported in Japan because their actions improve environments and help to restore communities. However, many people question whether such efforts by children and youth are sustainable. These criticisms are based upon a common viewpoint that evaluates effectiveness in terms of a project’s impact on the knowledge of individuals. From a case study of young people’s participation in Sagamihara city of the Kanagawa prefecture, this paper argues for a broader view of the benefits for youth and children of participation in urban environmental actions. It might seem natural to assume that adults should educate young people because they are immature in their knowledge and experience. But can we assert that adults are mature? This paper takes the position that everyone, including adults, has immaturity with regard to their relationship to the environment and that we need mutual environmental learning opportunities with youth and children. This paper describes a mutual learning project involving students who study environmental policy at Azabu University. They participated in a festival on the theme of biodegradability sponsored by a shopping district. They coordinated children and adults in the community as volunteers to guide the public in how to dispose of waste cups and trays. While there was a practical environmental policy goal of helping to reduce waste and promote recycling, the university students designed this process as a mutual environmental learning opportunity with the hope that the exchange among students, children and adults would continue to nurture a sense of community even after the festival. A Demonstration of the Potentials of Collaboration... 323 In 2003, the department of environmental policy at the university felt that it needed to develop strong ties with the local community as a field for environmental actions and educational opportunities for students and teachers. As a result, it has been committed to promoting practical environmental actions and education through high schools and community organizations since that time. The department also organizes the “Fuchinobe Bom-ba-ya “(the festival of collaboration and exchange among students, community and NGOs in Fuchinobe).” This includes a “symposium on urban husbandry” involving key persons from the community, university and NGOs. In addition, for 20 years the NFKK has been a collaborative community urban planning organization in the Fuchinobe community that has engaged public officials in a persistent dialogue regarding redevelopment. This has led to an alternative master plan for the community’s future and some effective redevelopment projects. But effective community development does not mean only the creation of single events or specific redevelopment accomplishment—it is a process of daily actions and human exchanges. To this end, the university students have been able to help the NFKK maintain a spirit of community cooperation through the annual Fuchinobe Galaxy Festival and Fuchinobe monthly Night Bazaar or street fair. The Festival Project After the Fuchinobe Bom-ba-ya festival in June 2003, university students joined the executive committee of the Fuchinobe Galaxy Festival and proposed that the committee encourage all drink and food stands to use biodegradable cups and trays. The students proposed to coordinate volunteers to guide this action. The students and adult members of the committee worked together to recruit volunteers, design the layout of the festival, and purchase cups and trays. The students, however, faced the difficulty that they could not recruit enough volunteers from Azabu University because it was final exam week. They then began to look at the problem from a different angle. They concluded that it would be a practical environmental learning opportunity for volunteers to learn to communicate the significance of garbage matters with visitors to the festival. Based on this idea, students and other members of the committee visited schools and Boy Scout groups in the Fuchinobe area to recruit volunteers. The term “volunteers” is used...