Across the world: 11:30 PM meets 10 AM at the online academy

This Online Academy took place on March 23rd 2023. 24 children from 4 different schools were keenly waiting for the academy to start. A whole class from the USA and some keen individuals from India, France and Germany participated on this English-speaking academy to share and develop their knowledge about the climate crisis and to start on their journey towards a better future.

After some short introductions and a warm welcome by Franziska, the full attention of the children turned to the presentation “Now we children save the world!” given by Climate Justice Ambassador Miriam and Ellen. 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 as Miriam and Ellen. We followed up with a quick quiz to solidify the new information. In order to learn about global distribution and global justice, we played the so called “World
Game” in groups. Through discussions the children distributed people, wealth and planes among the continents displayed on the world map. The three playing figures symbolize the world’s population, wealth and CO2 emissions respectively. After seeing the real life distribution of these resources, all children agreed that the distribution was unjust. Although only 0.5 percent of the population live in North America, they possess almost 30 percent of the world income and emit 20 percent of CO2 emissions.

Due to the nature of an online academy, the presentation by the Ambassadors Miriam and Ellen were split into three sections, to ensure interactivity. This supported the children understanding and allowed for questions, quizzes and information to be learned and understood. In order to take action and speak up for their future, the children need good presentation and speaking skills. Therefore the participants had some time to think about a topic they are confident with, to share with their partners and with the rest of the participants. They gave each other feedback on how to improve their presentations in the future. With some final questions and discussions the academy ended, with some children joining the rest of the school day (USA), some having dinner (Europe) and one heading of to bed at 1:30AM (India). Special thanks goes to the Plant-for-the-Planet Program Coordinator Franziska and also to Kilian and Valentina.