I was in two minds whether to submit a press release to let the local community know about my UN climate change teacher achievement. On the one, it would be great to let people know that teachers do learn after hours and are passionate about their subject, but on the other hand, would people really be that interested in what I did over several weekends?
So, encouraged by others on the Climate Change Teachers facebook page, I downloaded the press release and edited it slightly to reflect my school situation. I then asked the lovely Miss Chudleigh our Subject leader for History to use her amazing photography skills to take a photo or two. A few emails later and the press release was on its way to our local newspaper.
I then get a reply from the reporter, asking me to answer a few questions, which were,
what is he telling them to do to save the planet? What are in his lessons? What do kids get out of it?
My reply to those questions were,
In terms of the lessons that we are delivering, it is very much looking at the causes of climate change to begin with, both the natural causes and the human influenced causes. We begin by looking at the long term evidence of climate change, the photo by my whiteboard was highlighting the evidence that climate change on the planet is a natural event that has occured for thousands of years, resulting in ice ages for example.
We then move on to look at the human causes of climate change. Evidence that Co2 concentrations have increased dramatically from 1950 levels for example going from 280 parts per million to around 400 parts per million. We present this evidence to students so students can see that never in our history has C02 been so concentrated in the atmosphere. We link this to burning of the fossil fuels.
We then move on to the impact that climate change will have on people. We start locally, how will it affect the students lives for example. Will they be able to buy a fossil fuel run car in the future for example, or will they have to limit air travel in the future. After undertaking the UN course, I have now also been made aware of how climate change affects people very differently according to their gender – for example women when displaced due to climate related hazards in LIC ( Low Income Countries) are more likely to suffer from hunger as they tend to ensure food is their for their children rather than themselves.
In terms of what I am telling students to do to save the planet. Well, I think it is deeper than that, I am hoping that by providing a climate change education through geography, we are giving the students the tools to be agents of change in the future. They will be better informed to make changes to their lifestyles, for example thinking about their energy supplier, considering the impact of always upgrading a mobile phone, and considering how their future lives can be more sustainable. In the short term, I talk about recycling, we have recycling bins in our classrooms, also about how students use paper, can it be reused instead of thrown away for example. I think it is important that instead of telling students this is what you need to do, instead we encourage them to think about what they could do, so the action and desire to change comes from them.
What do the kids get out of it. Well once I have fully integrated the UN materials into my lessons, which will be in place by September, the students will be getting up to date and relevant information based on current research. The students are generally interested in the climate change issue and are keen to make a difference.
This was then used to produce the press article you can see at the top of the blog and can be visited below.
The Impact was quite amazing really. I was not sure when the article was going to be published, and so I was surprised when on Wednesday night I logged into Facebook at about 9pm to see what was happening in the world to see 20 notification. I normally get one or two… When checking them, I was greeted with the link to the newspaper article that had been shared by many of my colleagues at work congratulating me. Last time I had a news article published was way back in 2005 so facebook and social media was not really as big back then.
On returning to work on the Thursday, I am greeted by many students congratulating me, and in typical student fashion saying
I saw you in the newspaper / on facebook last night sir. So what have you done then?
This was great as I was able to have a conversation with students about the course, and for those that I teach in year 8, link it back to what we have been learning in class over the last two weeks. The sixth form students were impressed it was a UN scheme and I have had students come and ask me how they can get involved with recycling around the school. We now planning to relaunch the eco-committee shortly on the back of this. I also got a letter passed onto me inviting the school to a local action group meeting taking place soon asking what our local area can do to tackle climate change. Lots of colleagues starting taking about recycling at work, and what we do and don’t do, and how passionate they are about climate change too.
So what did the press release do:
- Started the conversation about climate change in school
- Added a greater importance on our climate change lessons that we are delivering
- Starting to get people thinking about what action we can do in school to reduce waste.
Hopefully this is just the start of making a difference.
Paul
Geographical reflections 