UNCSW66: Young Women and Climate Action Education 24/3/22

There is a clear way to bring together gender, climate crisis and education in a coherent way. This session was hosted by Graduate Women International and brought together 60+ researchers, teachers, educators and professionals. 

As an educator this was a balanced and positive event that included practical ideas for how to deliver activities in the classroom while reflecting on the key information and basic language we need to be able to articulate the intended outcomes.

The overarching message was that “Climate action should be everyday action” and the goal for us in education is to embed this into the work we already do in classrooms around the world.

We need to be aware that Children and young people as a group are constantly being presented with the message that the world as we know it is ‘on the path to destruction’ and that they are ‘our last hope’. This is why we need to be careful with how we present them with the information so that it isn’t overwhelming.  Any action we introduce to children and young people needs to be part of raising awareness but also needs to be proportional.

There is no point presenting a huge problem that needs to be solved by collective decision makers and then telling children to make a poster!

We need to empower them to make change that is within their scope of influence. This needs to be about making a change to their behaviours as this will in turn spread out to families and then the community.

Ideas such as community gardens, reducing food waste, eco warriors, protecting story trees, using age appropriate picture books… there are many ways we can talk about the climate change to our young people, without adding to their anxiety and impacting negatively their mental health.

 


LESSON PLANS | Global Schools (globalschoolsprogram.org)

Home | Association for Citizenship Teaching (teachingcitizenship.org.uk)

Graduate Women International (GWI) | Empowering women & girls through lifelong education


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