by Santiago Riveros Crosby | 16 Mar 2021 | Educators' Catalog, Environment, Gimnasio Los Caobos, Student Posts, Youth Voices
An old man and his great-grandson look out over a city—devoid of trees. Is this nature as our offspring will know it? Claude Monet, “Weeping Willow” (1918), Columbus Museum of Art, Wikimedia Commons Santiago Riveros Crosby is a student at News Decoder...
Climate change poses an existential threat to humanity that hangs like a dark cloud over students. Add to that a pandemic that has killed millions and turned students’ lives inside out, and you have a one-two punch to the mental well-being of even the most resilient students. Santiago Riveros Crosby of Gimnasio Los Caobos has both climate change and COVID-19 in mind in his very short story that takes us to the year 2060 and a landscape devoid of trees, viewed by a masked boy and his great-grandfather. Writing tightly is tough, but in just a few words, Crosby evokes a young generation’s angst. Ask your students to express their feelings about global warming and the pandemic — using the medium of their choice.
by Lucy Jaffee | 24 Feb 2021 | Americas, Contest winners, Contests, Educators' Catalog, Environment, La Jolla Country Day School, Student Posts, United States, Youth Voices
Most Americans want schools to teach about global warming. But skeptics and lack of teacher training make it hard to implement climate change education. Students learn about water filtration as part of their climate literacy curriculum in Portland, Oregon, 30 January...
Climate deniers have lost the political high ground in the United States, but the struggle to combat global warming has only just begun. Lucy Jaffee of La Jolla Country Day School explores why teaching about climate change can help reduce carbon emissions, but also why U.S. schools are having such a hard time fostering climate literacy. She interviewed a local expert and two teachers in her examination of the challenges schools face in meeting the expectations of parents who want climate change in the curriculum. Ask your students to explore how climate change is being taught in their school, and if not, why not?
by Malcolm Davidson | 22 Feb 2021 | Environment
COVID-19 vaccines have been developed in record time. Can that impetus and Gen Z help the world tackle the complex problem of climate change? Participants in the Youth Climate Strike in Rzeszow, Poland, 25 September 2020 (EPA-EFE/DAREK DELMANOWICZ) Vaccines against...
by Nazanin Meshkat | 12 Feb 2021 | Decoders, Environment, Health and Wellness, University of Toronto Journalism Fellows
They are far smaller than a human hair. But microplastics have been found in newborn babies and pose a growing threat to humans’ health. A researcher displays a piece of polystyrene foam found in a thick liquid made up of sea water, diatom phytoplankton and...
by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski | 22 Jan 2021 | Educators' Catalog, Environment, Human Rights
Threats to nature persist despite global efforts to save our planet. Is it time to get tough and make killing nature an international crime? Amira, a wild baby elephant, is buried after she was caught in a poacher’s trap, Sare, Aceh Besar, Indonesia, 24...
Most students, aware of the devastating effects of climate change, favor stronger protections for nature. But have they considered what course of action might be needed if “‘standard’ save-the-world activities” fail to stir change, to use author Paul Spencer Sochaczewski’s words? Spencer Sochaczewski looks at the gray areas relating to how to protect the environment. His piece encourages students to consider multiple sides to a complex issue, and invites them to consider the motivations and tactics of changemakers outside the mainstream.
by Tendayi Chirawu | 30 Oct 2020 | Environment, Thacher School, Youth Voices
In our latest podcast episode, two students at Thacher School in California examine how COVID-19 is affecting youth climate change activism. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many young people around the world to stay home. So how is COVID-19 affecting young...
by Alister Doyle | 28 Oct 2020 | Decoders, Educators' Catalog, Environment
Without a push to protect nature, Earth faces the worst extinction crisis since dinosaurs were wiped out. A summit next year offers a dwindling chance. Birds fly past a smoking factory chimney in Ludwigshafen, Germany, 4 December 2018 (AP Photo/Michael Probst) Among...
Alister’s Doyle tour d’horizon of the state of biodiversity draws on years of study and probes a range of primary sources. His article is a lesson in how to pack a mass of material into a tidy, readable story that eschews jargon. Doyle’s article keeps its sight on the future: the challenges, the stakes and the calendar. This decoder is an invitation to take stock of our countries’ commitments to preserving our planet, and offers numerous entry points for classroom discussion of issues that will define students’ future.
by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski | 5 Oct 2020 | Economy, Environment
It makes potato chips crispier, soap frothier, lipstick smoother and fried foods crunchier. Consumers love palm oil — but at a cost to our environment. Environmental activists evacuate an orangutan whose habitat is threatened by oil palm plantations, rubber...
by Jonathan Thatcher | 28 Sep 2020 | Asia, Environment, Health and Wellness
COVID-19 has slashed incomes in Indonesia, spurring illegal logging, poaching and mining. The environment and wildlife habitats are taking a hit. Activists protest against a government bill they say would harm the environment, Jakarta, Indonesia, 14 July 2020. (AP...
by Dylan Carlson-Sirvent | 27 May 2020 | Environment, Health and Wellness, News Decoder Updates
Want to ensure the impact of COVID-19 on the environment slows climate change? Then be sure to vote, a top environmentalist tells a News Decoder webinar. Tom Burke (upper left) leads webinar on COVID-19 and climate change. What can young people do to ensure that...
