Today was a special day. It’s not every day that your students have the chance to apply their learning in a real context outside of the school environment. In this case, 10 very proud teachers brought their students’ voices to the White House via John Holdren, the senior advisor to President Barack Obama on science and technology issues. We met with Dr. Holdren at the U.S. Embassy on the Place de la Concorde. As we approached the Embassy, we were quickly intercepted by French security, which admitted us in small groups through the first security checkpoint. We were glad we arrived 30 minutes before our scheduled meeting to complete all the procedures for our group. Once finished, we were accompanied through the beautiful building, passing through an elegant foyer and staircase, complete with paintings of George Washington and James Monroe. We arrived in an old and elegant conference room, with the walls lined with bookshelves, tall French windows slightly open to the warm day outside.
Dr. Holdren sat at the end of the table and opened our discussion with several fundamental understandings of climate change that are taken into account in his work. For example, the science of climate change is not in question; it is already having serious effects on our country. The adverse effects will grow before they can stop. Climate change is an urgent issue and policy responses must include mitigation as well as adaptation.
Dr. Holdren is warm and personable, and our meeting with him left us secure in the belief that our students’ work would definitely reach the hands of President Obama. Each teacher shared a little bit about their school, the projects they had done with their students, and what students had to say about climate change. This conversation was incredible because most teachers passed on a few student words verbatim. What better way to focus on the simplest of questions and the most important of answers? One educator, who is an educational coach, reported that two main themes had arisen among her students: Why isn’t anyone listening to what the science shows? And why isn’t anything happening to change climate change? Some of my students thought it scary to think about what the future could hold if we do not slow/stop global warming. Here are more comments:
Climate change matters because it can change the world.
Climate change matters because if we don’t stop the bad things we do, the earth is going to die.
Climate change matters because if we learn about it we can stop or stall it.
I want our world to be safe and kind and peaceful.