Children today are burdened with the prospect of a world facing an uncertain future. As such, educative initiatives designed to help children and young people better understand the risks posed by climate change and what they can do to prevent it have never been so important.

Through climate change and ecological duress, humans have played a dangerous game of brinkmanship with the plant, weighing their insatiable need for industrial growth against the finite resources available on Earth. In doing so, we have brought the environment dangerously close to collapse in a number of ways; melting polar ice caps and the resultant probable increase in sea levels is one such example.

Many believe that it is too late, that we have gone too far to unstitch what destruction has already been sewn. As such, the need for future generations to understand the full impetus of climate change and what needs to be done to protect the planet is vital.

Increasingly, topics such as climate change are being introduced into the class room to nurture and develop the concept in children through the curriculum. As the future custodians of the planet, this seems to be a vital movement.

In order for children to better understand climate change, the key messages associated with turning around the potential ecological demise of our planet must be delivered in an appropriate way. Making learning fun for children is a tried and tested method for communicating on serious issues in an approachable way.

Many education initiatives for children are focussed on encouraging them to participate around the home to small, manageable degrees. You could encourage your child to turn light switches off when there's no one in the room; to turn stand by buttons off safely at the TV or computer when there's no one watching or when they go to bed. Encourage children not to waste water, and to turn off a dripping tap; teach them not to put anything warm in the fridge or freezer, and that by keeping your windows clean, sunlight can enter your home, providing abundant natural warmth, helping to conserve on central heating bills.

Children may enjoy learning about why they play such an important role in the future of the planet through games or art workshops, while climate destructive elements can be communicated through making children into climate cops and identifying climate crimes.

By using such education initiatives and activities, there's plenty opportunity to reward your children, all the while, reinforcing their understanding of climate change and why their participation is so important.