Local Climate Action Program for High School Students in Atlantic Canada

Lily Barraclough

Abstract


This research paper draws on educational theory, environmental education literature, and real-world examples of successful education and youth engagement programs on climate change to craft a proposal for the development and implementation of a local climate action program for high school students in Atlantic Canada. This paper builds an argument supporting the development of such a program and lays out how it could be developed and carried out in conjunction with local high schools and youth organizations. The program would help high school students build the skills and knowledge needed to engage with their municipal elected officials and community members to inspire positive environmental change by grounding them in understandings of the impacts that climate change has and will have on their homes and communities, and how climate change exacerbates injustice. The students would participate in workshops on anti-oppression, understanding local political processes (particularly focusing on the impacts of the climate crisis on marginalized communities and the intersections of the climate crisis and systemic oppression), and they would carry out a local climate action project working with local municipal councillors, staff, and organizations. The overall goal of the proposed program would be to equip youth with the skills to hold their leaders and communities to account by engaging in the political process and work to combat systemic oppression while also improving local responses to the climate crisis through policy change and program development.

Keywords


Youth Engagement; Environmental Education; Climate Action; Program

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References


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