Looking Ahead to Day 9: Youth, Children, Education and Skills

Any educator can tell you that taking a week off from school is an exciting nightmare.

I was thrilled to be a delegate for Climate Generation but was less than thrilled with the idea of pulling together sub plans for a week for the two subject areas I teach. It may seem counterintuitive that I took time off from teaching to travel across the world to learn and discuss why teaching climate change and climate justice matters.

I teach middle school students social studies and Spanish language arts. I was nervous about telling my classes that I would be gone. I did not want them to think I was abandoning them and I also did not want them to get distracted from their own learning. I was expecting to have to explain to them why the Climate Change Conference was important, but I underestimated them. After having to explain to my students that my trip to Dubai was, in fact, not a luxury vacation–I will not spend all of my days at the sprawling malls, picturesque pools, and famous fountains of the city–many of my students were genuinely excited that I would be attending.

Some had things they wanted me to pass along to the people I meet at COP. One student asked that I request their curriculum standards be more reflective of their identities and interests. Several students asked why we don’t learn about climate change more at school. One student lamented that, even if they wanted to engage in climate activism, adults wouldn’t actually be willing to support them. I promised that I would bring those points up if given the opportunity and have since set up a form for students to submit any COP questions/comments that I can keep in mind as I move forward into Week 2. I want them to feel involved because they deserve to be.

Why? Because it is clear that students are at the forefront of the climate action movement. Because empowering young people and subsequently listening + learning from them is a valuable tool in this fight. Tomorrow is COP28 Day 9: Youth, Children, Education and Skills. Many delegates, including myself, will be attending the RewirED Summit, whose tagline is “Education Transformation is the Heart of Climate Action.” I am looking forward to hearing from educators, ministers of education, people from various industries, and especially from youth activists themselves. Some questions that I have going into tomorrow are:

• Are there examples of current climate education initiatives that are “successful” and what is the definition of success in this case?
• What are youth activists doing in their communities and have they received support for their efforts?
• How are school districts reacting to proposals to shift/expand curriculum to include climate education and student action?
• What are new (or new to me!) pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning about our climate given contemporary technology and youth engagement?

What questions do you have?

Sofía Cerkvenik is a social studies educator and sports equity activist in Saint Paul. Sofía was adopted from Lima, Perú and grew up in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She received her B.A. in History with a minor in Asian Languages and Literatures and her M.Ed in Social Studies with an emphasis on Social Justice at the University of Minnesota. Sofía believes that exploring various windows and mirrors in the classroom is imperative to establish greater understanding, empathy, and action among students. Sofía has had an opportunity to do just that through various study abroad experiences including the US Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship Program, participating once in Dalian, China and once in Changchun, China, as a Fulbright Research Scholar in 2022, and this winter as a COP28 delegate.

Sofía is a Climate Generation Window Into COP delegate for COP28. To learn more, we encourage you to meet the full delegation and subscribe to the Window Into COP digest.

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