Education as a Bridge to Global Understanding

by Kayla Stoll

​Education is the bridge that separates world crises from global understanding. A single piece of knowledge, combined with the right intentions, can be the deciding factor in history's course. When intertwined with widespread acknowledgment, mankind can work to reshape the world through language and by breaking down barriers. Even if our opinions do not match, educated understanding among a population recognizes all issue sides with equal merit, and uses it to build relationships, even among disagreement. 
 
Education lacks when deprived of the opportunity to experience the world… even the most intellectual person secluded to confinement will have nothing to found curiosity. Cities, technology screens, and poverty are mankind’s modern confines, drifting away as “separate” from the natural world, fueling this lack of education. Community, connections, and compassion are the principles that can save the world.
 
The environment maintains its secrets, openly exposing its true colors, whilst keeping surprises—like the “how” and “why” behind such complexities—hidden, waiting for the next pioneers, filled with innate curiosity about its processes, to claim the next discoveries. Yet in our solidarity among our manmade pleasures, too many are not granted the chance to foster such curiosity. It is in the presence of a village—such as the international Global Citizens Circle—that we share knowledge and observations, wholeheartedly raising these future pioneers, who will inspire all generations.
 
Many environmental crises could be remedied through the spread of education—microplastics, greenhouse gas emissions, and fast-fashion waste. The truth behind these issues are masked by a facade of convenience and economic benefit, driving a great canyon between Mother Nature and mankind; a canyon that can only be bridged by awareness. 
 
Achieving eco-friendliness is an adaptation, requiring lifestyle commitments for long-term effects, such as adopting reusable cotton bags, metal water bottles, and even switching your plastic cutting board for wood or bamboo. Yet humans innately resist contributing to long-term solutions—yet unwitnessed—compared to immediate, tangible results. Awareness, inspired by community connections, can open this narrow frame of time into a world view: a mental picture of our actions’ consequences, fueling the positive evolution of mankind’s relationship with our planet.
 
Education—the bridge that separates world crises from global understanding. A united society, universally connected through relationships, working for the common good. Global Citizens Circle seamlessly weaves endless backgrounds, ethnicities, and lifestyles through the work of compassionate individuals who instinctively know which connections will change society for the better. This network is the foundation for educating others, making all the world’s stories into a single anthem for us all. Community, connections, compassion; the principles that will safeguard our planet for future generations and save the world.

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Kayla Stoll is a 20-year-old naturalist and passionate environmental educator from Bedford, NH. Throughout the last decade, she has been committed to planet advocacy—from organic agriculture to plastic pollution—focused on influencing positive change. She has spent the past seven years researching the plastic pollution crisis, encouraging individuals to take small steps toward improving their environmental footprint. 
 
Kayla is an ecohydrologist finishing her sophomore year at SNHU, earning a degree in environmental science and hopes to pursue environmental engineering in the future. She is also an avid snowboarder, rock climber, herbalist, hiker, and photographer. 
 
With published environmental articles in Greet Bedford Magazine, Planet Forward Magazine, Kayla also has an Earth-education YouTube channel (Earthling Impact). She has been featured in SNHU productions and was a TEDxSNHU speaker in February 2025, speaking about environmental education in schools. it is her dream to influence others to step away from plastics and lead more planet-friendly lives. 
 
Kayla is part of Global Citizens Circle’s Emerging Leaders program, with a desire to further spread the message of hope and education toward bettering our world.

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Please note: We invite members of the greater Global Citizens Circle community to contribute to GCC Voices. The views and opinions expressed in each blog post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Global Citizens Circle. ​

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 It is in the presence of a village—such as the international Global Citizens Circle—that we share knowledge and observations, wholeheartedly raising these future pioneers, who will inspire all generations.
​                                                                                                          -Kayla Stoll