Teachers can find local environmental issues that stimulate student interest. The benefits to selecting a local topic are that the children can take a hands-on approach to it, the issue will come to life because of its proximity, and the topic will have the potential to foster community partnership and participation. Local issues are relevant to the community and provide greater accessibility to educational resources, such as local, knowledgeable speakers on the topic.
Schools have many incentives for going green. In addition to merely debating an environmental topic, students can take on the challenge to make their school more green by selecting an issue that's relevant to their school. Topic ideas can be as basic as recycling, using a paperless system, using recycled paper in the school, planting trees or other plants, adding organic foods to the school food program, making the school more energy efficient, reducing waste, etc. There are a number of national grants, resources and challenges that the class can take advantage of while learning about the go-green movement.
Not all schools have local environmental topics for debate, or the topics may be too controversial to bring into the classroom. Luckily, there are plenty of national or international environmental topics that can be debated. Many of these topics are supported by an endless supply of relevant educational materials to help students learn about them. Examples of topics include global warming, alternative energy, melting of the glaciers, pollution, reducing our carbon footprint, climate change, etc. These topics exist globally and can be narrowed down to a specific region, if necessary.
The Internet is filled with resources for teachers interested in teaching environmental topics to their students. Environmental issues are constantly changing -- as we learn more about and better understand our planet -- and the Internet provides up-to-date information on these ever-evolving issues. There are a number of websites that are designed for teachers and ones designed for children. Chances are that there are so many topics available for debate that the challenge will be choosing just one. Students may enjoy doing their own searches for topics and then voting on one for their classroom debate.