By James Penstone, Secondary Principal
The first within Switzerland, this is an event that seeks to unite schools for climate change awareness and solutions. Similar events have been hosted in multiple countries since 2016, through the guidance of the founding organiser, Mr Peter Milne of Target4Green educational consultancy.
The day before the event, Mr Milne worked with different age-groups within our school - Grades 3, 4, 7, 11 and 12. He invited students to explore the UN Sustainable Development Goals, to confront causes and responsibilities attached to the climate crisis, and to consider how schools can devise meaningful and lasting environmental actions. He also led a workshop with teachers from across the school, inspiring us to identify valuable connections within our ongoing education for sustainable development.
Environmental Education as a Response to Climate Change
At the opening of the Friday conference, attended by all of Grade 8 as well as students representing 6 other schools, I cited some recent research which reached the following conclusion. If just 16% of students in middle- and high-income countries were to receive purposeful environmental education in their high school studies, their resulting awareness, behaviours and actions would collectively lead to a greater reduction in carbon dioxide emissions than other well known global solutions.
"For example, environmental education at this scale could be even more effective than all the world’s current plans to renew forests or to increase the global volume of electric vehicles. Such is the considerable potential of education’s role in reducing the impacts of climate change."
Reconciling Doubt with Hope
Another piece of recent research suggests that there are different forms of doubt in response to the climate challenge. These range from nihilistic doubt (nothing can really be done about the situation) to constructive doubt (not enough is happening due to human disorganisation and inaction, even though there are potential solutions). Similarly, there exist different types of hope - from naïve hope (the situation will naturally resolve itself) to constructive hope (humans are very capable of devising effective solutions). Having surveyed a large sample of adults, the researchers concluded that the people most likely to engage in effective solutions are those that possess a combination of constructive doubt and constructive hope. With this profile, they are motivated to act by their deep concern that much more needs to be done globally, but they can also envisage potent solutions.
The symposium prompted some elements of constructive doubt. For example, we watched and listened to powerful presentations by guest speakers including a video message from Mr Bill McKibben (the first mainstream author to highlight the realities of global warming), Mr Georg Klingler of Greenpeace Switzerland, and Mr Milne himself. All of these drew our attention to the very steep, uphill challenge of worldwide environmental stresses.
Constructive Hope and Meaningful Actions
However, the same speakers spoke to the audience in terms of constructive hope. And this important theme was really at the heart of this event. We were exposed to practical solutions in a variety of ways, including:
14 local organisations and enterprises assembled for an inspiring exhibition of real world, sustainable solutions - they enthusiastically shared these with participants of the symposium as well as visitors from grades 4, 6, 7, and 9.
Student participants reflected on their own immediate solutions, sharing these individually as written pledges and also, on stage, as possible school-wide commitments.
A significant highlight was a workshop led by a team of students in Grades 11 and 12 who founded the ICS Environmental Action Team (EAT) this year. They prompted discussions for the younger students by updating them with current solutions which they have planned at ICS (e.g. plastic reduction, dietary awareness and energy conservation).
In the same workshop, we listened to some current solutions and plans by the guest schools (Schule Zumikon, Schule Looren Maur, Rietberg Montessori Schule, ZIS, IS Basel and ISZL) while considering other possibilities here at ICS.
Connecting Locally to Contribute Globally
In these ways, our first such symposium paves the way for some very exciting possibilities for our school within the sphere of environmental awareness and action. By starting to build valuable connections with other schools and enterprises, we can forge ahead with genuinely local actions while we continue to think globally. In doing so, we can help our students to maintain authentic and constructive hope.
Wishing you all a brilliant vacation packed with discovery and connection.