Call to Action! What is the most effective advice we can give to climate conscious students?

Despite not explicitly featuring in this morning’s headlines, BBC Radio 4’s ‘Today’ program featured a whole host of climate stories: from the wild-fires causing such thick smog across Canada and the East Coast of the US that pupils are forced to stay home from school, to cartographer Eleanor Field and Professor Michael Meredith discussing the rapid loss of Arctic ice and subsequent rise in sea levels. 

Canada Wildfire Tracker: Maps, Air Quality and Latest Smoke Forecast - The New York Times

Amongst these horrifyingly apocalyptic news stories was novelist Anne Atkins’ ‘Thought for the Day’ which started with an exploration of the headline: “Climate Change is harming my mental health.”  Atkins spoke of the debilitating effects of eco-grief, detailing a PHD student who abandoned her study on shrinking ice sheets when she realised nothing in society was changing: she experienced deep depression and has decided not to have children.

Whilst acknowledging the entirely apt anguish in the face of life-changing loss, Atkins ended her thought with a call to action: “I can turn off the heating and put a jumper on; I can go by bicycle and leave the car behind.”

This, to me, felt incredibly anti-climactic – in the face of unprecedented levels of global warming that constitutes the biggest single threat to everything we all care about, is this really the most effective advice we can offer? 

The Earth is warmer than it was in the 1800s.  Countries pledged in the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees (and certainly from exceeding 1.5°C) above pre-industrial levels – the upper limit considered by scientists to avoid the worst fallout from climate change.  But just over two weeks ago, The World Meteorological Organization warned we will breach the tipping point of 1.5 degrees Celsius level, and, in fact, we are “likely to surge to record levels in the next five years.” 

The job of a school is to develop pupils emotionally and intellectually, spiritually and culturally, enabling full participation as a member of society – and our society is under threat. Forests, woodlands and other natural habitats across the world are in decline; fossil-fuel burning, rainforest-clearing, pollution-emitting cars and planes all cause extreme weather events – droughts, flash floods and filthy air – and these increasingly damage the inputs and the infrastructure on which our economies depend. 

So what is the best advice we can both offer to our students plus undertake ourselves?  What call to action will make real, speedy, sustained changes?

Whilst discussing individual climate-conscious actions with my year 12 group on the same day as the WMO press release, a pupil told me how an advertising firm working for big oil company BP coined the concept of the carbon footprint calculator, in an attempt to pass the guilt of destroying the planet from the corporations actually responsible, to the individual.  And it’s true – how utterly chilling.  But whilst we do all share responsibility, and whilst we must learn (and teach) that our actions have consequences, we must be mindful of the bigger picture: As Rebecca Solnit’s 2021 Guardian article explains, “Climate-conscious individual choices are good – but not nearly enough to save the planet. More than personal virtue, we need collective action.”




This is where the WWF Classroom’s ‘Schools For Nature’ resources become so incredibly valuable.  In collaboration with the RSPB and the National Trust, WWF uses the new BBC TV series “Wild Isles” as inspiration for a series of live lessons and student collaboration, not only encouraging a celebration of all work to save nature in our school grounds, but also encouraging our classes to write press releases and letters to MPs.  Top tips and templates help teachers and pupils spread the message that: “Nature is in crisis, and we need everyone to take urgent action, including our current leaders.... nature is important to everyone and is a priority beyond the school boundaries to #SaveOurWildIsles.”

So this is our call for action – yes, chose your bike rather than your car; opt for reusable bottles, shun single use plastic, eat more veg and look after your belongings.  But first, pick up your pen, open your laptop, and make use of your phone, to bombard our media, our businesses, and our leaders.   As Greta Thunberg says, “we all have a role to play, but the bigger your platform the bigger your responsibility.” 

Let’s hold those with the most power to account – let’s get them to act, too.

 


Sarah Dukes is Sustainability Coordinator and English Teacher at The Chase School in Malvern; she passionately feels we must adapt our school curriculum to include explicit teaching on the climate crisis, sustainability, and nature connectedness.  Follow @ecodukes



Guardian Article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-footprints-to-blame-us-for-their-greed-keep-them-on-the-hook

Wild-Isles WWF Classroom Resources: https://wild-isles.cdn.prismic.io/wild-isles/912ab4aa-df58-4802-94ef-891b68948563_030-0447-22-23+WI+Partnership+School+resources_Pack_Proof+4.pdf

BBC Radio 4 Today Program: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qj9z


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