Can One Climate Change Presentation Inspire an Entire High School?

Kids at Denver's East High School got a mini-education in climate change this week—what's causing it, the dangers involved, our role in exacerbating it—but they also got a lesson in what they can do about it.

Bridget Jankovsky, who leads the Colorado chapter of the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), gave presentations to hundreds of kids throughout the day on the basics of climate change: the role of greenhouse gases, what human behaviors play the greatest role in increasing them—including meat consumption—the sensitivity of the earth to a difference in temperature of just one or two degrees, and how Americans in particular are used to "living large," using more resources per capita than any other country in the world. You've heard this statistic before, but the kids hadn't: If everyone on Earth consumed as much as we do in the U.S., it would take five planets to support all of us.

She explained how that works—and with some fun, cartoonish slides, illustrated that we take up more space on the planet than just our bodies. The space we take up extends to what we can't see because of the resources we consume: The cornfields in Iowa, cotton fields in India, factories where that cotton is sewn into clothes, oil fields in the Middle East, and most unglamorously, the landfills where our things end up when we throw them away.

The presentation tried to spark kids' imaginations: She said she would leave the stage and return to meet them at their 40 year high school reunion. They would imagine what the world could look like by then—what species would still be alive, and what would our air and forests look like? Would we have embraced renewable energies, or would we have continued to procrastinate bringing them to a larger scale despite the readiness of the technologies?

A little cheesy, but a fun way to drive home the idea that it is up to them to create the future they want, that social movements are almost always started by youth.

3 Student Solutions for Addressing Climate Change

So while the first 20 minutes or so focused on the problem, the second half focused on solutions. How everyone can take action, no matter what their age or profession.

Bridget gave the Alliance for Climate Education's three basic steps for action:

1. Commit to doing one thing for the environment, even as small as carrying a reusable water bottle—and then talk to people about it, explaining the importance of action and asking them to make their own commitment.

2. Raise your voice. Speak up when you can, and get involved in other ways, developing new skills to match your lifestyle and profession with helping the environment—want an internship? ACE will help you find one.

3. Become a leader. Get your school to make changes, or start organizing friends outside of school. At the end of every presentation, ACE asks students interested in getting more involved to sign up.

By the end of Tuesday's presentations, Bridget had collected almost 150 cards from kids who wanted to take more action. She said on average, about 20 percent of students sign up after a presentation, but they're working to bring that up to 50.

She reminded her audience that there are 22 million high school students in the U.S., and how quickly a youth movement can spread—will East High School be the one to start it?