This week the children in Class 3 have been learning about climate change. It is especially timely as the UN Conference on Climate Change is underway in Paris with leaders from more than 190 nations meeting to try and reach an agreement to reduce carbon emissions….but what is climate change? We hear this term in the media and often the term ‘global warming’ is used in place of ‘climate change’ but the reality is that climate change is much, much more than warmer temperatures. The Met Office describes climate change as a large-scale, long-term shift in the planet’s weather patterns or average temperatures. It means hotter temperatures, melting polar ice caps, higher sea levels (threatening coastal communities and islands resulting in environmental refugees), changing oceanic currents that alter weather patterns, more rainfall, higher intensity storms and changing natural patterns (such as species behaviour and migration). In short, climate change can and will be catastrophic for every person on the planet unless drastic changes are made now. Sound scary? It is…
With this knowledge, however, there are things that can be done to slow the rate of climate change. Last week Emma from OASES, Outdoor and Sustainability Education Specialists, over three days, visited our Class 3 children to develop their understanding about the earth’s finite resources, climate change and some to the ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint. This work resulted in a fantastic assembly that the children presented on Thursday, 3 December.
Olivia, from Class 3, has written about the assembly:
Today, Class 3 presented their own assembly based on carbon reduction. We talked about how much land we have to grow food and about how much fresh drinkable water we have for the 8 million people living on Earth today, and it is not very much. Climate change threatens how we will be able to eat and drink and support our population because farmland and water resources are being lost. We presented in front of the whole school and parents with the help of Emma, who told us that if we continue our current lifestyles we will need more than three planets to survive.
The children made pledges to turn off lights and devices and to not waste water. By making small changes in our routines, supporting government and local efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and supporting the goals of the UN Conference on Climate Change we can all help to save our planet.
