Eco-Schools: Introduction to the Climate Action Topic

Welcome to this video which introduces our mandatory topic, Climate Action.

To understand this topic, we first need to understand the concept of climate change.

So what is climate change? Here is our beautiful Earth with the sun in the distance. The sun emits heat radiation which travels to the Earth. Some of this heat is absorbed, but a lot of it escapes back into space. Surrounding the earth we have the atmosphere. In the atmosphere are gases called greenhouse gases which have been there a lot longer than humans have been around.

When the heat from the Sun hits the greenhouse gases some of it gets reflected back to Earth warming the planet. Without greenhouse gases, the Earth would be too cold to sustain life as we know it. However, since the Industrial Revolution, human activity especially the burning of huge quantities of fossil fuels has released lots more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This means that more heat from the Sun is reflected back to Earth, leading to the overall temperature of the planet increasing. This leads to long-term shifts in our weather patterns and changes like melting Polar Ice that we call climate change.

We can see the effect of the increase in greenhouse gases by looking at the temperature changes over the past 170 years. Our climate does change naturally over time but human activity is causing it to change a lot faster than it has in the past.

So what are the impacts of climate change? Often the impacts are unpredictable, but we do know that there will be increases in extreme weather, flooding and intense storms in some areas. In other areas there may be droughts leading to wildfires as well as affecting humans climate change will affect many animal species for example with changes in food availability and diseases spreading further.

We want to empower young people to take action on climate change in school and outside of it. Therefore Climate Action is our core topic, meaning it is mandatory for all settings that are working towards a green flag award to work on Climate Action as one of their topics.

So what can you do for your Climate Action topic? There are three main parts to Climate Action, and you can choose which ones you want to work on. As a first step, we all need to understand and care about climate change. You can use your environmental review to consider how much everyone in your school understands climate change and if this needs to be improved. The next thing we need to do is reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is also known as mitigation. The aim of this is to reduce the effects of climate change by having less greenhouse gas gases in the atmosphere.

We also need to protect against the effects climate change will bring this is known as adaptation. We are already feeling some of the effects of climate change, and we know there are more to come. But there are things we can do to reduce the impact.

Let's start with how you can increase your understanding of climate change. A great way is to join in with our Climate Action Week Live Lessons which take place every September. The recordings and resources for previous years are available online if you missed them.

For younger pupils we have a climate change social script to help explain climate change in simple terms. Our Climate Ready Classrooms program is available for primary and secondary schools. Contact us directly to arrange a visit to your secondary school, and contact your local Authority if you interested in your primary school taking part. For secondary school pupils we also offer a climate emergency course that is SCQF Level 4 accredited. You can sign up on our website.

There are lots of Eco-Schools resources to help you understand more about climate change. Have a look on our Eco-Schools resources page to find them. Once you understand climate change, it's time to think about what we can do to reduce emissions. We want to aim to balance the scales so the amount of greenhouse gases we are emitting is equal to the amount, that is being absorbed for example by plants. In terms of Eco-Schools, this means that we can work on reducing emissions from heating, energy, food, waste, the stuff we buy and use, and transport. We can also work on expanding the absorption of greenhouse gases by trees, peak bugs and underwater forests.

Here are some examples of what you can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help expand greenhouse gas absorption in your school. You could help increase active travel and the use of public transport rather than using cars. You could reduce energy waste by turning lights off and reduce Heating and Hot Water waste. you could only use what you need and reduce waste through reduce, reuse, recycle.

You could reduce food waste and ensure any food you do have to throw away is composted. You could plant trees and improve your school grounds for wildlife. You could use your voices to ask for change from local and national governments.

We know we will experience impacts from climate change, but there are things we can do to help with these impacts that don't make the situation worse. For example you can install water butts at school to save water for your grounds if there is a drought. You could plant trees and hedges, or install shelters to increase shade. Planting trees also helps cool the air around your school.

An important point to remember is that climate change will affect people all over the world. Climate justice is the understanding that the people who contribute the least to climate change are often the ones most affected by it, and the least able to deal with the impacts. We can work to reduce the inequalities of climate change by learning more about the impacts of climate change in different countries and communities. We can then use our voices to campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support disadvantaged communities in dealing with the effects of climate change.

Now you have some ideas of what to do for your Climate Action topic. Let's look at how this can translate into your Action Plan with a couple of examples. In this example, we have identified a lack of climate change awareness in our school. Our aim is to increase knowledge and understanding of climate change among pupils and staff. To do this we might hold an assembly on climate change. Sign up for Climate Ready Classrooms or watch Climate Action Week Live Lessons. We could then use discussions or quizzes in class to check our understanding of climate change.

In this example, we have identified that there are greenhouse gas emissions associated with activities in our school and we aim to reduce those emissions. We could do this by introducing energy saving measures, plant trees in our school grounds, and campaign for change. We could measure if these actions achieve our aim by estimating the savings of greenhouse gases, and surveying the impact on the behaviour of pupils and staff. If you need further ideas or support in writing your Action Plan, please contact us.

Thank you for listening, we wish you well on your Eco-Schools Journey.