This year’s third Academy in Ostrava

The third Academy in the Planetárium in Ostrava took place on November 29th, 2017. Approximately 25 children from 2 different schools were keenly waiting for the Academy to start. The event was free-of-charge for all the attending children aged from 12 to 14.
The children gathered in a cinema for the presentation, but they also had the opportunity to visit the science exposition during their breaks.

The Academy began with some welcoming words of the organizing team. Then the full attention of the children turned to the presentation Now we children save the world! given by Šimon, Hana, Anna and Hedvika. Complex topics such as sources of CO2, global warming, photosynthesis, the climate crisis and global justice were presented in a suitable way for children – and nobody could be better for that task than a child of the same age like Hana, Anna or Hedvika. After the presentation, the participants had the chance to ask remaining questions.

For the following part the children were divided into small groups to learn about global distribution and global justice in the World Game. The children put tokens, sweets and balloons eagerly on the world map as symbols of the world’s population, wealth and CO2 emissions respectively. At the end sweets and balloons were evenly distributed among the tokens to demonstrate how a fair distribution would look like and to keep in mind that everyone should have equal rights.
In order to get active for their future, the children need good presentation and speaking skills. Therefore, the participants prepared and presented short passages from the opening presentation they had listened to at the beginning. They gave each other feedback on how to improve their presentations in the future.

Before lunch the children also did a World Café, in which they discussed their possibilities to act on climate change and how they can further participate as an ambassador of Plant-for-the-Planet. After that the children gathered back to the cinema for a final presentation made by the best speakers of the day, so that they could experience speaking in front of a large audience and their friends.

At the end, the children had the opportunity to do something for their future right away: Planting trees! In addition, they got information on how to plant trees, when to plant them and how to take care of them. In return, the participants could show their knowledge about the function and importance of trees gained during the day. In total they planted 50 mixed leafy trees with the assistance of the adults. The children finished the planting event with a magnificent Stop Talking. Start Planting. battle cry.

The Academy was made possible thanks to the commitment of Ostrava-Krásné Pole and Planetárium Ostrava. Special thanks go to the Plant-for-the-Planet Program Coordinator Šimon and also to Anna, Hana and Hedvika and all the Climate Justice Ambassadors from Ostrava who helped organize the event.

A huge thanks to all the many helpers around the venue, technology, food and tree planting event. Without their support the Academy would not have been possible.

Check out this flickr album to look at more pictures from this academy.

If you want to become a Climate Justice Ambassador, check out the dates here.

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