Academy at the Munich International School

On Friday November 5th, 22 students of the Munich International School spent the day learning about trees, the climate crisis and climate justice. With its park with many beautiful trees wearing their fall colors, the school was the perfect place for an academy. It did not feel so much like a school as it did feel as a little village lost in the forest.

After a short welcoming word and the presentation of the day’s program by Jonas and Mathilde, our Ambassador Alexa did a great job at introducing the children to Plant-for-the-Planet’s mission as well as concepts like the climate crisis, global justice and the greenhouse effect. Students were very curious and their hands shot up several times in the air to ask questions.

Once the presentation finished and the last question answered, the children proceeded to play the world game. Together they discussed where on the planet they thought the most people lived, where the wealth was and where the greenhouse gas emissions were the highest. The students debated on where they thought the pieces representing the population, the wealth and the emissions should go. When the answers were given, some yelled in victory, others highlighted that they had gotten pretty close.

Asking about the consequences of the climate crisis, some children mentioned the floods that had occurred in Germany this year. Others mentioned the fires in Australia and California. As world citizens, the children were already pretty aware of what is happening in the world, despite being so young.

After a short break, the children began thinking about what they can do to fight the climate crisis. They put down their ideas on posters. This would help them in the afternoon during a reflection session organized by the school on how they can be more active in the fight against the climate crisis. Where some used words, others decided to draw. Bikes, windmills, protest signs and trees flourished on the papers, illustrating the diverse solutions to current global problems.

Then, the participants set off to meet the forester at the planting location. But not without a cup of warm hot chocolate! The forester, Christian Gick from Waldbesitzervereinigung Starnberg, met the kids and explained his work and gave some very interesting facts about the nature of forests in Germany. After the explanation, it was time to plant! Children got in groups of two or three and all took a shovel and a seedling. Some of those seedlings had been grown by the students themselves. The ground was a bit more difficult than anticipated to plant the trees and it took some time to find a decent space for each tree! Amongst the 21 trees planted, they were sycamores, littleleaf lindens, elders and cornelian cherry trees, all species indigenous to Germany.

In the closing event the organisers thanked the students and their teachers for their participation in the academy. They then received their certificate and were promoted to Climate Justice Ambassadors! They also received a Plant-for-the-Planet bag with a book and a chocolate bar.

Plant-for-the-Planet would like to thank the Munich International School for their invitation to organize an academy at their school, and the forester Mr. Gick for his support during the planting.

All photos from the action can be seen here.

Do you also want to get active with Plant-for-the-Planet and do something against the climate crisis? Then contact us and we will also organize an academy at your local school! Current dates and locations of planned academies can be found here.