Students and teachers lead climate fight

In May, we saw the inspirational student strikes for climate in Australia. But there were significant events worldwide. From Teachers for Climate in the Netherlands to Townsville's weather stations project, our round-up brings you some of the most intriguing current environmental global initiatives.

May was the month of climate action by students. In Melbourne, our General Secretary Deb James made the keynote speech at the student strike 4 climate change. But sustainability events were global that week.

The Worldwide Student Summit on Climate Action and Biodiversity was co-hosted on 19 May by the Global Student Forum, its regional member organisations, Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN), Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS), Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network, Future Coalition, and the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.

Education International (EI) reported that students and youth were not just continuing calls for immediate action on climate change and the protection of biodiversity.

Advocates and activists were also fighting to keep climate change and biodiversity on the agenda as governments and development agencies turn to post-pandemic 'recovery'.

'There is no 'recovery' without action on climate change and biodiversity, participants agreed.'

Dennis Sinyolo, Director of Education International’s Africa office, said education was an essential instrument for developing responses to climate change.

'Education must be accessible to all, including marginalised, indigenous, migrant and ethnic populations, and of good quality,' he emphasised. 'Education inculcates values, contributes to living in harmony with each other. Education can be a powerful tool to protect the planet and enhance basic knowledge on protecting our environment.'

He called on students to 'green' their education institutions.

The Global Student Forum was aimed at reflecting on the campaigns of the past decade to make the movement 'more resilient and strategic'.

'The virus has taken away substantial energy from the environmental justice movement, with on the ground activism through protest being too risky and COVID-19 being the constant headline dominating international discourse.'

Teachers obviously play a crucial role as well. The importance of providing quality education for sustainable development (ESD) was highlighted at the recent UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, held as a virtual conference from 17 to 19 May 2021 and attended by 2500 participants from around the world. UNESCO members adopted the Berlin declaration on ESD, committing to a new global framework ESD for 2030.

EI has partnered with EARTHDAY.ORG on the Teach for the Planet campaign to ensure climate change education 'based on science and with a civic action focus, becomes as fundamental as teaching reading and writing'.  

'The fight against climate change must have an education face and a teacher’s voice in every area of the world. The planet is in crisis and I strongly believe that teachers and educators have a critical role to play in combating the environmental destruction, human suffering and social injustice that will certainly occur if climate change continues at current rates,' said Susan Hopgood, EI President.

An example of such education is occurring in Townsville, where Year 5 and 6 students are learning about sustainability through a new program in which they build weather stations.

Townsville City Council and James Cook University have partnered to create a sustainability unit to help students 'build and deploy' their own weather stations to measure temperature, air pressure, humidity, and light intensity'.

Council Community Health, Safety and Environmental Sustainability Committee chairperson Maurie Soars said the program will teach students about the changing climate and encourage them to brainstorm sustainable solutions to meet the city's needs.

'This will teach them critical thinking, problem-solving, and future focusing skills and encourage them to think about becoming our new environmental scientists, engineers and ecologists.'

St Anthony’s Catholic College Learning and Teaching Advisor Nichole Denman said the students would benefit from 'outside professionals' bringing their knowledge and expertise to the classroom and from working with real-world data to help solve real-world problems. 

James Cook University will use the data collected by the students to build an ultra-high-resolution heat map of Townsville to be used by planners, architects, and builders.

"By engaging the students directly, by showing them how they can contribute to science, and that it can help understand their lives, we hope to show them how accessible and fun science can be,' said Professor Ian Atkinson from JCU’s eResearch Centre.

In the Netherlands, Teachers for Climate are a key group in the Social Tipping Point Strategy, a coalition which wants to follow the example of US President Joe Biden to 'end fossil fuel subsidies and use that money to help citizens, businesses and organisations become more sustainable'.

'The idea of ​​a social tipping point strategy is based on scientific research into changes in society. Once a movement gains more mass, it is contagious, and change accelerates...'

The coalition is lobbying the government to make further changes because it believes 'relatively modest measures' will now have a big impact. Momentum has been built by student strikes and bans on fuel-hungry SUVs and cheap flights in an Amsterdam municipality.

Teacher pension funds are also a major target of environmental campaigning in the Netherlands, and in the US.

In New York, advocates and lawmakers are pressuring the $120 billion state teachers' retirement system to divest from companies that have coal reserves.

“As a recent public school teacher, I can tell you just how devastating it is to work so hard every day to protect our community’s future and its children, only to have your pension invested in an industry that’s actively harming that future and those children," said Sen. Jabari Brisport, the lead sponsor of a proposed divestment bill in the state Senate.

"The fact that coal is also such a financially risky investment of already under-paid teachers’ pensions adds more insult to injury.” 

A proposed bill would divest the teachers' retirement system from all fossil fuel companies within 2 years. 

"Continuing to invest in oil and gas companies and companies that are based on significant coal production and consumption no longer makes fiscal sense and puts the future of our youth at stake," said Assemblywoman Anna Kelles, a Democrat who sponsors the bill in her chamber.