‘Students will be pioneers in the field’ (From The Northern Echo)

‘Students will be pioneers in the field’

2:02pm Wednesday 4th June 2008 in

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IT was her work studying glaciers that gave Dr Krista McKinzey a personal belief in the importance of educating young people about climate change.

When she studied New Zealand's famed Franz Josef Glacier, as well as parts of Vatnajökull, Europe's largest ice cap, in south-east Iceland, she saw the extent to which climate change had altered the landscape and shaped societies over the centuries.

Concerned with the state of the planet, and the increasing impacts of climate change, the glaciologist is passionate about involving younger generations in tackling it while there is still a chance to do something positive.

The Climate Change Schools project officer, who is based at Durham University's Science Learning Centre North-East, said: "The consensus within the scientific community is that current climate change is linked with human activity. Glaciers are a particularly visible and sensitive indicator of climate change - much of the world's icy regions are warming so quickly that from year to year, it is easy to see the changes occurring.

"It's important for young people to know that Earth's climate is always changing - but also to realise that the rate of change nowadays is unprecedented.

We have to act now to protect the future of our young people and generations to come."

Dr McKinzey, who was born near Chicago, in the US, came to the North-East after studying geography in New Zealand and then at Edinburgh University, while conducting postgraduate research into landscape and climate change, before securing the job as Climate Change Schools project officer.

She said: "The message I want to get to our young people is that the future of the planet is not written in stone, that we can do something about it.

"The project will give schools support to bring climate change to life, including educational materials and access to training, which will allow them to teach the subject in a dynamic way and encourage their students to think creatively and proactively about solutions.

"It is a way of engaging young people and can be part of other lessons because climate change itself, and its breadth of associated topics, is very cross-curricular. It takes in science, geography, citizenship, literacy, numeracy, ICT and art and design, to name a few.

"We have to empower our young people to help them understand that they are the leaders of our future when it comes to climate change action and adaptation."

And this is the time to do it.

Councils in the North-East, and the rest of the UK, have signed up to the Nottingham Declaration, which is a pledge to reduce the carbon footprint, and the autumn will see a version for schools launched.

By then, Dr McKinzey hopes to have the 48 North-East pilot Climate Change Lead Schools.

She said: "The Lead Schools will have the opportunity to shape the future. They will become pioneers in the field and will be able to involve other schools in their areas in this network.

"This is a chance for North- East schools to make a mark in the way we involve children with climate change teaching and learning. It is also an opportunity to showcase the North-East.

"Ultimately, the project aims to put climate change at the heart of the national curriculum, not just in the North- East, but country-wide.

"We have an amazing opportunity to influence how schools engage their young people with climate change.

Let's pave the way for the future, starting here."

* The project has launched a book containing thoughts and images from the region's children about climate change. It has a foreword by Bill Bryson.