Teaching is never dull. A combination of calamities in school on Tuesday this week kept me on my toes; a power cut for a full afternoon, the main corridor flooded by a blockage in the boys toilets (again), and a fifth of the staff were absent due to norovirus. Following a COBRA-style meeting in the staffroom we were confined to our form rooms with our classes for a full afternoon. On the way down the corridor I could hear my colleagues discussing which films they were going to show. It’s the easy option, but that’s not how I roll. No one needs to see Shrek for the forty-seventh time and there’s much work to be done, so I decided it was time for some fun with critical thinking.
Green hats
Years ago, a trendy teaching strategy was based on Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats”. It provided a structure to help learners collaboratively untangle messy problems through the donning of metaphorical hats to consider different perspectives. Unfortunately for learners the process was restrictive, synthetic and time consuming so, in most educational settings, it was consigned to the wheelie bin of strategies, no doubt to be recycled and reincarnated in the future.
Given the scale of the climate crisis and biodiversity loss, I am ditching five of the six hats to be left with the ‘Green Hat’. Originally representing inventive ideas, I now use it to view the world from an environmental perspective. Inspired by a collection of very stylish green hats found in the drama storeroom I thought I’d enlist the help of my Year 7s to see if wearing a green hat gave them the power to make decisions which move us in a direction towards ecological security rather than away from it.
Who has the power?
Sporting a pine green Homburg, popular among European aristocracy, I told the children about the meeting of political leaders which recently took place behind closed doors in Davos, Switzerland. The World Economic Forum (WEF) brings together prime ministers and presidents alongside CEOs from business including the fossil fuel industry. Given Davos is where many political, social, economic, and therefore climate-impacting, decisions are made, I asked the pupils to raise their hand if they had heard of it. Tumbleweed, unsurprisingly.
The WEF just published its yearly global risk report. The key risks forecast for the next two years are that extreme weather events climb from #8 in 2024 to #2 in 2025. More than a third of the world’s population, 3.3 billion people, live in areas highly vulnerable to climate impacts, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse. Yet, politically oligarchs are being enabled, resulting in people that are already struggling are becoming even more downtrodden.
To avoid confusion I clarified the distinction between ‘political power’ and ‘power’ in Physics which is the rate at which work is done or energy is transferred. I asked the children to pick a hat, we only had 23 to choose from so eight pupils made green paper hats making them look like enthusiastic Robin Hoods. I think this may have inspired them as, when I asked ‘What should the WEF be doing differently?’, one declared that they should reduce the wealth of the richest and distribute it to the poor. The HT popped in and raised an eyebrow as a sage-green beret spoke for the class, suggesting that the political players should also be doing far more to take action on climate and to protect nature. Bravo!
Sceptics may think Mrs Bird has intentionally created a classroom of mini-me’s via indoctrination but all I’ve done is highlight the facts, using published reports, explained what they mean in a way an 11 or 12 year old understands and asked their opinions. Young people often naturally lean towards socialism because they haven’t yet been corrupted by wealth and power. By nature we are fundamentally a social organism.
Boomers not Elders
The WEF 10 year forecast on risks to Business as Usual (BAU) puts extreme weather in the #1 slot in 2035 when the 11-12 year olds in my class will be just 21. The next decade #2, #3 and #4 are also environmental; biodiversity loss, collapse of Earth’s systems and natural resource shortages. These eclipse substantial risks such misinformation and disinformation, adverse outcomes from AI technologies or inequality. Erosion of civil rights and migration don’t even feature in the top 10 but I’m certain it’s not because they’ll have been solved. In a time when Gen Alpha desperately needs elders to be making decisions with their futures in mind, all they’ve got are boomers.
Nature is not giving us just reminders anymore, it’s giving us red flashing, siren screeching warnings. Less ‘our house is on fire’ and more ‘a huge section of Los Angeles just went up in smoke’. But hey ho, that was last month’s news. Anyway, I asked the children ‘Who should have power?’. After a little discussion between peers they proposed that the decision makers should be people who care about the planet and their future. Blessed are the meek. A green beanie said she thought her Grandpops could be a good elder as he feeds the birds and has an allotment.She may be right.
I informed the class that, in 2023, the United Nations stressed young people, all 1.2 billion of them, should be involved in decision-making to create a ‘just and equitable future’. I asked them if, even at their age, they thought they could contribute. Unanimously they agreed that they could and would like to be invited to Davos to take part in making the important decisions. A mint green bobble hat said they should take all the green hats to help everyone see the world in an environmentally protective way. Not MAGA red caps but MEGA (Make Earth Great Again) green hats. What a group picture of global leaders that would make!
Algorithms
There are similarities between fascism in the past and what is happening in our political world today but there is a big difference, people are now connected to each other through a myriad of communication platforms which brings its own pros and cons. Network building can be great but algorithms play a crucial role in shaping what users see and create echo chambers, reinforcing extreme views by showing users content that aligns with their beliefs. Like Shrek, CEOs in control of the algorithms have created their own swamp, and this one definitely needs to be drained.
Some young people are starting to ask AI how they should emotionally respond to complex interpersonal issues. So, as the Deputy Head waded past the door looking queasy, I asked an open question to the hats, ‘What are the benefits of limiting our use of the internet?’. The tweed flat cap said ‘it would save energy, reduce exposure to nasty people and allow more time to play outside with friends’. Is my work here nearly done?
Whistleblowers
Talking of swamps, let’s look at the UK Water industry to highlight the struggle between the economy and nature. Water shortages result from ancient leaking pipes or droughts, and rivers are polluted with everything, including the kitchen sink. We’re dependent on predominantly foreign-owned water companies to quench our nation’s thirst, resulting in increasing costs, unhappy customers, and failing regulatory compliance.
The Environment Agency has a portal for water industry workers to report environmental wrongdoing. If ecocide was embedded in law could we all become whistleblowers for the organisations that we work for, or from which we buy services or products? Should the polluter pay? I asked the gathered hats if they’d be willing to work for a company that caused environmental harm. All but one, who was wearing a colonial-style khaki-green pith helmet, said they would not choose a polluting industry. Pithy said he would if it meant he could make lots of money. Old habits die hard.
However, being a whistleblower, even just speaking out, can result in fear. I asked my green hats if they’d have the courage to speak truth to power to protect our environment. A very apt green hippy hat decorated with sunflowers spoke up and said ‘Yes, because not doing so harms nature and therefore harms me’. Youth voice is a mighty powerful force full of resolve once lifted high.
Grounded
We didn’t have a green astronaut’s helmet and we can probably assume the majority of my form class will not be making it off planet anyway. I ask the green hats ‘What should humans value?’ As I wandered around the classroom there was discussion about everything that 11 year olds should care about from family and pets to X-boxes and even books (love those lil bookworms).
Then they started talking about Earth’s life support systems of atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, cryosphere and biosphere. They actually listened in my lessons on the structure of Earth! I beamed with pride, through discussion and dialogue we can prepare young people to address environmental challenges. The moss-green felt fedora looked particularly empowered and said ‘Couldn’t we spend more time outside learning about nature?’. I’d love to provide even more experiences that inspire a profound sense of interconnectedness with the natural world, but SLT suggests there needs to be more extended writing and purple pen responses to feedback in their books. Boooo.
Moving mountains
One of the biggest surprises over a decade or so in education has been in the school garden. When we first started I asked the young horticulturists to move approximately 3 tonnes of turf and topsoil for vegetable beds. I thought it would take them weeks, but although they were only armed with rusty spades and a wheelbarrow with a flat tire, they moved the mountain of soil in one afternoon. Given opportunities and guidance, young people are an incredible force of nature but we’re hardly harnessing their power. Almost all children want to be green, just not like Shrek.
If BAU means we miss the 1.5°C target, which we certainly will, the next target is 1.51°C, not 2°C. The science is clear, this is a climate emergency and there’s a mountain to climb. As a self-declared teacher on the verge of climate breakdown, could I do more outside the classroom? Decision time is looming, should I go or stay? Even my green hat isn’t helping. Sometimes life isn’t that simple. I could ask the all powerful pupil voice but I’m not sure I want to hear the answer.
Note to self: Ask Hubster to check my hair for nits. My head’s been itching since donning the green Homburg, hopefully it’s psychosomatic. You gotta love working with kids.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
