Declaring a Climate Crisis at Woodbridge High School, Redbridge

Across the UK awareness around climate change is growing and following recent school strikes and demonstrations some of our schools have declared a climate emergency and began to examine what they can do about the scale of crisis we face. In this piece we learn how one London secondary school has responded.

Context:

The overwhelming majority of the scientific community acknowledge that addressing the climate crisis must become the defining issue of our time, and that on current trajectories there is little chance of meeting the Paris COP target of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees of preindustrial levels. Furthermore, “if we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us”. (UN general secretary Antonio Guterre, September 2018)

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Climate Curriculum

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Climate Change

Climate Change: Active Travel

14 Jul 2020

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      string(4072) "Each of the six case studies written for the ‘Dragon’s Den’ challenge need the same introduction to set the scene for their research. The following should be given to all groups alongside the specific brief for each of the proposed solutions to climate change in the UK. The solutions are as follows:Active TravelRewildingLand Use: Growing Energy and FuelLand Use: Changing DietsLand Use: Changing FarmingRetrofitting HousesIt is hard to live in the world and not be aware of Global Warming and Climate Change. Global warming is the gradual rise in the earth’s temperature caused by high levels of Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Some gases in the Earth’s atmosphere stop heat radiating into space from the Earth causing the greenhouse effect. The main greenhouse gases are methane, water vapour and carbon dioxide which are emitted mainly through the burning of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas and coal), solid waste, and trees and wood products. Global warming leads to Climate change which is a large-scale, long-term shift in the planet’s weather patterns or average temperatures which is bad news for people and planet. We are all familiar with the doom and gloom scenarios about what will happen to planet and people as climate change accelerates. The serious impacts on the world’s water systems through more flooding and drought; the impact on agriculture and our capacity to grow food; how rises in sea levels will affect three-quarters of the world’s mega cities which are by the sea and 40% of the world’s people who live within 80 miles of the sea. What can we do? First we need to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere – power down. Second we need to find alternatives to fossil fuels to power our lives -– power up. Finally we need to drawdown the greenhouse gases we have already produced out of the atmosphere and into the earth – carbon extraction. Fortunately we already know how we can do all of these things. We can power down by reducing emissions in lots of ways. We already have the technology to power up our world using renewable energy. And we have a great natural system for drawing down greenhouse gases – the trees and green plants of the world drawdown carbon dioxide and in return give us oxygen. There are other carbon extraction methods which are more experimental that scientists are working on. Solutions to Global WarmingWe have to move to a carbon neutral economy as fast as we can – we need a Zero Carbon Britain. This means transforming the ways we travel, the homes we live in, the food we eat, how we generate electricity, and how we use our land. Our science team has come up with 6 ways that we can adopt to help solve global warming. Today you will work in teams on ONE of these proposed solutions. The SuggestionsThe suggested solutions have been well researched and cover many aspects of human life that influence global warming including electricity generation, food production, buildings and cities, land use, transport and materials. All are important and all offer opportunities for creating a New Green Industrial Revolution. And furthermore, all of the solutions suggested are ‘no regrets solutions’ – the actions recommended make sense regardless of their climate impact since they have intrinsic benefits to communities, economies and the environment in multiple ways. They will produce jobs, improve health, eliminate hunger, prevent pollution and restore the environment. Any good solution has to be considered for its environmental, economic and social benefit. This approach is known as Holistic Sustainability. Global warming is therefore an opportunity and an invitation to build, innovate and effect change. Combating climate change can awaken creativity, compassion and genius – it has the potential to create jobs for the future that will benefit all of humankind. "
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Climate Change

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14 Jul 2020

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      string(3488) "Young people are worried about the climate emergency; many are suffering from eco-anxiety and teachers are often not sure how to respond. The case studies here are designed to present a different approach to the gloom and doom that is often prevalent in the media – more a case of gloom and bloom. The work is designed as a way to involve the young people in conversations about what the future might look like if we make the changes necessary to mitigate climate change. Some young people feel betrayed and abandoned by adults and it is important for them to know that many adults are working really hard on researching and implementing the changes we need to make. Now more than ever young people have access to information about the world and have many research skills. The case studies have been prepared by scientists and educators to guide students into the solutions.  Each case study has a research briefing that provides links to trustworthy and reliable YouTube videos and other online sources of information. Together the case studies convey a feeling of hope for the future which all of us need in the face of the climate emergency. Working with partners from RICE (Reducing Industrial Carbon Emissions) we devised a one-day conference for the Youth Councils of Wales to give young people some sense of hope that we do have the knowledge, understanding, skills and capacity to become Zero Carbon in Britain and that we can implement the ideas discussed here to help mitigate the climate catastrophe. Teachers can choose to replicate a one-day conference with young people as we did, or each case-study can be a stand-alone activity that can be completed as part of classroom lessons. The content would fit well with geography, science, English, social studies, business studies or media studies. Each proposed solution to the climate emergency has links to YouTube videos for research and some online publications (see each of the briefs). We downloaded all the videos in advance onto laptops to ensure there were no problems in finding the resources needed to complete the challenge on the day. Each group had a maximum of 10 minutes for their presentation. Using the materials for a one-day conferenceOur conference was attended by 70 young people, aged 14-18, from Youth Councils across Wales. We prepared six case studies to illustrate some of the changes that can be made in the UK if we are to rise to the climate emergency. We considered different aspects of land use, travel and housing. We put the young people into 6 groups and each group were given a research brief (see below). During the morning they completed the research as guided on the brief and created a presentation of their proposed solution for a ‘Dragon’s Den’ team. Each presentation was judged on its persuasiveness and how well it demonstrated Holistic Sustainability – that means emphasising how the proposed solution is good for the environment, the economy and social life. Taken together the six case studies give a good understanding of how we need to transform our way of life if we are to meet the demand for Zero Carbon Britain.To see the young people talking about their experience of the day see: The video was made by William Gold who supports the RICE project. supports the RICE project. Contact him on Twitter @wgoldstories or email wgoldstories@gmail.com for information about RICE."
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Climate Change

Climate Change on Dragon’s Den

14 Jul 2020