It’s that back to school time of year. For those of us in the northern hemisphere it is a time to watch, hear, smell and feel change in the air, slant of light, and sounds of geese flying south and school buses traversing our communities. As a parent I enter this school year with trepidation, optimism, and a newfound acceptance that uncertainty is part of our current state, or what my favorite author Terry Tempest Williams has recently called our Climate of Now. Professionally, I enter this school year fired up to harness the power of education and understanding around the Climate of Now to ignite climate action.
At Climate Generation we know that our work training educators, mentoring youth, and engaging communities through the power of sharing stories is essential for accelerating climate action. In fact, education and engagement is a key social tipping point for realizing the ambitious goal of a decarbonized world. We’re excited for partners in the US ACE Coalition and our six stellar delegates to bring the message that just and equitable education and engagement are critical to the United Nations climate conference, COP26, in November. You can follow our delegation by signing up for the daily digest! We’re also holding a special COP26 preview webinar featuring some US ACE delegates and the US ACE focal point on October 19, 11am-12pm CT.
Locally here in Minnesota, we’re also proud to support the youth-led teach in on September 24, held in solidarity with Youth Climate Strikes around the world and our Teach Climate Network is kicking off its school year virtual workshop series with a timely focus on Exploring Climate Change through Extreme Weather Phenomenon. In her climate story, Window Into COP26 delegate Julieta Rodrigo shares the impact of extreme weather on her life. She closes with a call to action for all of us to be educators and engage with our communities:
“We need community members to speak up and we need decision-makers to listen and act accordingly. Let’s host more town halls, more climate rallies, more community events. Let’s foster more spaces for sharing our climate stories, Indigenous knowledge, and our feelings… I believe we can counter the darkness of the climate crisis with the optimism of the climate movement. It’s going to take all of us.”
Go out in your communities and #TalkClimate!
Kristen Poppleton
Interim Executive Director