Importance of Environmental Activities in Libraries

Fourth online meeting of Read with Me librarians

The fourth online meeting of Read with Me librarians was held in March 2021. March 5^th was Arbor Day, and on this occasion, we chose “environmental activities in Read with Me libraries” as the topic of this meeting. This session’s guest speaker was Ayeh Hamdavi, a promoter of “zero consumption” lifestyle, who talked about reducing waste in schools and libraries.

At the beginning of the meeting, Safura Zavaran Hosseini, Read with Me libraries expert, talked about the importance and necessity of environmental activities in libraries. Following her speech, Ayeh Hamdavi gave solutions to reducing waste. This environmental activist explained how we cannot depend on recycling since only a low percentage of waste is actually recyclable. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce waste. According to her, home is a place where we can control our waste production, so, by informing families, we can reduce waste. She named decreasing consumption, reusing, recycling and compost as ways to reduce waste. One of her suggestions was to have children make compost at home, in school yard or in the library to make them more sensitive about the environment. She made several other suggestions such as replacements for glue and plastic within the library, and also managing and controlling the library’s trash can with children’s help.

In the end, some librarians shared their experiences with children in environmental activities. Fariba Zareyi, librarian of Rijab library, talked about the effect of books such as “How to Heal a Broken Wing” on the members of her library. Sending a letter to the region’s hunter, using cloth bags instead of plastic and separating paper and cardboard from other waste were some other activities of Rijab library.

Sahar Hassanzadeh, Mahtab Library librarian, talked about how they have planted plants in the library garden and how children are responsible to take care of them.