Children love nature. They jump at the chance to go to the park or beach in the summer and build a snowman in winter. So how can we as parents translate that seemingly innate love of the outdoors into a life-long commitment to caring for the planet? When we talk about the environment we mean everything in the world around us that surrounds and affects all life on earth, including the air, food chains, the water cycle, plants, animals and other humans. Climate change is one of the really big environmental changes that is affecting the lives of people, animals and plants all over the world.