USA: Teaching resilience in the face of climate change
By Janine Zeitlin
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The Elizabeth River Project received about $500,000 for youth resiliency education as part of a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grant program to encourage children’s resilience when faced with climate-related disasters. The grants are intended to teach young people and adults to better respond to threats like sea-level rise, severe storms, flooding, drought and extreme heat.
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The programs provide education and projects include building rain barrels, planting trees, hosting resiliency expos, collecting environmental data and interviewing community members about extreme weather events. The approach is intended to help stave off the paralysis or anxiety that may occur when confronted with climate data that may feel overwhelming or distressing.
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Over the summer, middle-school boys in a hazard resiliency program in Gunnison, Colo., that caters to rural schools hashed out how to protect their small town at the base of the Rocky Mountains from an approaching wildfire as part of a board game that incorporates hazard survival strategies.
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“For youth and their families who live in underserved communities, this is not an abstract issue,” said Ethan Lowenstein, director of the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition at Eastern Michigan University. Climate change can affect young people in ways that aren’t immediately obvious, Dr. Lowenstein said. For example, if sports fields flood, students miss practices and games, which may affect their ability to get scholarships.
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