The biggest thing that helps me to do this is being a passionate environmentalist myself. Passion is infectious and if you care about something enough then the enthusiasm can’t help but rub off on others. This is particularly evident when I teach about rainforests. I have never seen a class disengaged when learning about deforestation in Borneo. They care too much. The scarring of the landscape and destruction of the orangutans’ habitat is such a vivid and emotive image that they get really riled up about it. I once held a debate about deforestation where members of the class acted as different stakeholders (logging companies, conservationists, palm oil companies, local tribesmen, etc.). By the end, the debate was so heated that I actually had to shout to get them to stop for the end of the lesson. You know that some awesome learning has gone on when they’re begging you to carry on into their break time.