The High School Where Learning to Farm Is a Graduation Requirement

A group of teens gathers quietly in the predawn darkness. Dressed in warm clothing, they meet before breakfast to help capture and pack broiler chickens to be taken to a slaughterhouse. They fed, watered, and watched the birds grow; now they prepare them for their final trip. Eventually, the birds will return as meat and be cooked for the teens to eat.

Founded in 1837 to serve the children of Quaker
 families, Olney Friends School has always had
farm program and students have been involved in
its operation to varying degrees.

High school students at Olney Friends School, located on 350 acres near Barnesville, Ohio, witness the cycle of birth and death time and again during their four years on campus. Founded in 1837 to serve the children of Quaker families, Olney has always had a farm program and students have been involved in its operation to varying degrees.

Read the Yes! Magazine story by Mary Ann Lieser - “The High School Where Learning to Farm Is a Graduation Requirement.”

Disconnect between rhetoric and what is needed

Governments around the world misunderstand their responsibilities.

Australia’s Prime Minister, for argument’s sake, argues it is the first responsibility of his government to ensure the safety of those who live here.

Then, without almost drawing a breath, he begins to expound on his latest idea to ensure Australia’s continued growth, most of which, if not all, is founded on energy derived from fossil fuels, the villain in the climate change conversation.

The contradiction of what he and many other world leaders are saying is alarming and displays a huge disconnect between scientific facts and reality, and their misplaced ambitions.

His goals, ambitions and values are so much at variance with that is actually needed if the world is to endure and escape the worst of climate change that his stance appears to be, knowingly or otherwise, and crime against the people of Australia, particularly younger people.

That disconnect has not passed unobserved among some with EcoWatch reporting that many young people feel they have too much at stake to wait for leaders to get their act together and take meaningful action on climate change.

Subsequently EcoWatch reports that: “Teens Sue Governmentfor Failing to Address Climate Change for Future Generations”.