COP26: How to use event to reduce pupil climate anxiety

Being a close follower of environmental news, I was keen to see how Glasgow's COP26 climate conference would pan out. As a teacher, I also wondered how the event and the hope that came with it could be highlighted to my young students. 

Children will be aware, albeit to varying degrees, of the wide range of extreme weather stories linked to climate change to hit the news agenda, and maybe that human actions in the form of burning fossil fuels are to blame. 

It's scary stuff and it's hard to teach. However, educators have a responsibility to help children understand what's happening. How can we present the facts without instilling climate anxiety amongst pupils? 

This is a very real issue, as an international study into the phenomenon, led by the University of Bath and funded by online campaign group Avaaz, outlines.

10,000 young people across 10 countries were asked about their thoughts and feelings on the issue. It found that 59 per cent of 16- to 25-year-olds were worried or extremely worried about climate change. 

But school aged children are also effected. 

Research conducted by the BBC's Newsround, which polled 2,000 8 to 16-year-olds in the UK, revealed how nearly three-quarters worried about the state of the planet. One in five admitted to having a bad dream about it.  

It strikes me that children need a more empowering, hopeful story around climate change in order to reduce feelings of despair. We need to acknowledge their worries, provide scientific explanations and then show how the adult world can take - and is taking - meaningful action. 

COP 26 was a chance to highlight to children that the climate emergency is not being ignored and that solutions are being sought. 

I planned, alongside my fellow sustainability coordinator at school, a trio of lessons to make the point.  The lessons were taught by other teachers in the school with slide shows we designed, using the freely available resources from Twinkl as a start point. 

The first lesson focussed on basic climate science and what COP26 was. The children learned how the conference aimed to bring countries together to report on their progress cutting emissions and hopefully come to agreement about further cuts. 

But we wanted to go further and help children understand that they can make their voices heard and demand more from politicians. 

This in mind, the second lesson invited pupils to enter an international competition run by UK-based Trust for Sustainable Living in partnership with Conservation Without Borders.  

The challenge was to create a video message to world leaders and governments on "the need for climate action and driving a green revolution". We ran the challenge as a "house competition" and received a decent number of entries, which were used as a basis for the third lesson sharing and celebrating the children's work.  

The winning entries were selected for entry into the international contest, and one of our pupils received special commendation from the judges. 

Overall, we hope we've helped children see COP26 as a chance for adults to work together to solve our climate problems - and that young people can and should demand that adults rise to the occasion. 

If any children in our care have feelings of climate anxiety, then this knowledge - and the opportunity to speak out - may foster a sense of hope within them for the future.  

I was delighted to see my article summarising the project published by Tes Magazine.

Rescuers struggle to save unemployed Thai elephants from worse than exploitation.

Elephants enjoying Napier grass grown to reduce overheads at the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary.
Photo: Phuket Elephant Sanctuary

This was a sad, yet absorbing topic to investigate.  

Having travelled around Thailand intermittently during the lockdowns of 2020/2021 and seeing the effects of 'zero tourists' on so many places, I got to wondering about the country's elephant camps and what had happened to them. 

I'd picked up a few hints of the problems involved during conversations with the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation in Chiang Rai and read an excellent article in National Geographic about the problems faced by Thailand's elephant sanctuaries and businesses as they attempted to look after (or failed to look after) their elephants - with essentially no tourist dollars coming in. 

The Phuket sandbox travel scheme was about to start and it seemed prudent to focus on a sanctuary there, find out how they coped and their hopes as the holiday island opened up. This would give me a starting point for finding out how elephants across the country had fared. 

It was great to interview Vincent Gerards from the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary and learn about the innovative initiatives that helped get them through. Turning to its tens of thousands of social media followers for help, the Phuket sanctuary didn’t just want to ask for money but instead “designed initiatives people could join from afar,” Gerards said. 

For example, they produced “two short films, telling the story of two elephants’ daily routines and a mahout’s (elephant keeper’s) role in rescuing another elephant. Supporters can purchase exclusive access; all proceeds feed our herd,” said Gerards.

Gerards thought the sandbox would provide a ray of hope, but dark clouds are continuing to hang over Thailand's tourist industry. 

Sangdeaun “Lek” Chailert of the Save Elephant Foundation
Photo: Save Elephant Foundation

I was lucky enough to be granted a phone interview with Sangdeaun “Lek” Chailert of the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai. She has received international recognition for her years improving the lives of Thailand’s working elephants. 

Chailert told me that elephants left unemployed during the pandemic were often sold because the elephant camps could not afford to keep them. 

During my research, I unearthed a pair of videos posted on TikTok and Instagram, which show two separate elephants struggling to pull large timber trucks up muddy mountain roads in the jungle. 

While it’s difficult to draw a direct link between unemployed elephants and the clips of them doing possibly illegal logging work, it is known that industry which once depended on their labor is one the owners have turned to when tourists stopped coming. 

"Elephants are definitely doing this work during the pandemic. I’ve visited them myself,” Chailert said.

But some owners have sought better fates for their elephants. Some have contacted Chailert to offer their lucky elephants for sale – and the chance of a better life.

Tang Mo and Sang Mueng once entertained tourists under the threat of the bull-hook at Phuket Zoo.  Photo: Moving Animals

Before tourism collapsed, elephants Tang Mo and Sang Mueng performed three times daily for tourists at Phuket Zoo. Closed and looking to cut costs, the zoo turned to Chailert. At Elephant Nature Park’s expense, the pair were moved to its 250-acre jungle reserve in Chiang Mai where they are now free, no longer hustling for tourist amusement.

Tang Mo and Sang Mueng enjoying their new lives at Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai.
Photo: Save Elephant Foundation

Another positive outcome of the great crunch has been dialogue between the Chailert's Save Elephant Foundation and owners about improving conditions for captive elephants. 

“Before the pandemic, I was talking to a brick wall. Elephant people thought I was their enemy. But now, many are interested in my views. They’ve seen my ethical model where elephants can be themselves out in the open and are asking how they can do the same,” Chailert concluded.

These hopes aside, it’s clear Thailand’s working elephants and the people that rely on them face real hardships until the tourists return. It is time for the government to meaningfully step in. 

Please read the FULL ARTICLE HERE. 

 

Pupils will never forget their virtual elephant safaris

I haven't written much about the Education for Sustainability projects I work on at school in my capacity as Environmental Sustainability Co-ordinator, but this one stood out as somewhat unique. 

It was one of the more eye-catching emails to arrive in my inbox. 

“Would your pupils like to meet our elephants on an educational online call?”

I was keen to read on. 

The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation offered my school live elephant safaris over Google Meet Photo Credit: GTAEF

The offer was from the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF), a conservation group that runs an elephant sanctuary located approximately 900 kilometres north of Bangkok at the remote point where the borders between Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. A very different place from the city based international school where I teach. 

We were in a second round of online learning due to the pandemic and pupils had been learning from home for nearly a month. The answer was an obvious - yes! 

It was great to work closely with Laddawan Yonthantham and John Roberts of the GTAEF. Armed with a laptop, smartphone and selfie stick, they took the whole of the primary school (that's around 970 pupils) on a series of virtual field trips to meet the elephants they care for. 

Children were delighted with the elephant's fun loving-antics Photo Credit: GTAEF

The project's success prompted me to pitch the story to the TES and they kindly asked for a full write up. The full article can be read here. It was also published in the TES magazine itself. Click this link for the tearsheet.

It was good to have the chance to point out to the wider TES audience of educators that: despite the pandemic and resultant move to online learning, we can find new and innovative ways to engage pupils in real-world experiences that boost learning –  and highlight the real people working to solve our conservation and sustainability problems. 

Such learning brings not only reality to pupils, but also hope. Hope that we really can fix the planet on which we all depend.

The GTAEF continues to offer virtual field trips to schools worldwide, and can offer virtual elephant safaris to suit a variety of timezones. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like your school to be involved. 

Unsung trash heroes save Bangkok from choking on its own waste

Uncle Ban has spent the last decade collecting unwanted waste from people's homes, earning enough to pay for his children's education Photo: Ewen Mcleish

For a long time, I'd been considering a feature article investigating Bangkok's informal waste collectors. These independent workers scour the streets looking to buy or scavenge recyclable materials discarded by the city's waste generating inhabitants. 

My Thai's ok for day-to-day life, but the language barrier blocked my way. Until I met Pavini Sethi of Beesgreen, who also saw these workers as playing a valuable part in our haphazard recycling system. 

Fluent in Thai, she was tireless in searching out a 'seleng' operator who would be willing to be interviewed, and found Uncle Ban working the sois near my work and her home. Thank-you Pavini!

Uncle Ban was a little surprised by my questions, but answered patiently all the same. It was really interesting to hear about his life and his pretty positive view of his work. 

My prejudices were overturned as I'd expected to hear a story of poverty and lack of opportunity, but instead Uncle Ban displayed a kind of determined, gentle contentment about his occupation and life in general. 

Selaeng operators sell recyclables to medium sized businesses who sell to Thailand's larger recycling companies. Photo: Ewen Mcleish

To add some academic background to the article I drew upon the case study 'Closing the Loop: Sai Mai District' produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute and UNESCAP.  It was great that Diane Archer, an author of the study, was able to provide extra details about the situation of informal waste collectors in Bangkok. 

It was also good to come across other businesses and projects in the sector, such as 'Recycle Day' and Less Plastic Thailand (provides a great beginners guide) in the course of my research. 

A 'selaeng' fully loaded and ready to go; all sorts of consumer waste can be resold and used again.     Photo: Ewen Mcleish

One thing that struck me as I put together the piece was the need to raise the status of these informal recyclers so they can gain some recognition for their important environmental work. 

If properly supported, they could be key to ramping up Bangkok's recycling system and clearing up the mess made by throwaway capitalism. 

I hope this article goes some way to persuade more people to take note and support a system for recycling which is already up and running in Bangkok, and on which many livelihoods depend.

Please click through to Coconuts to read the full article.