Are schools preparing students for the climate crisis? And even if they are, how do you teach children about the realities of climate change without instilling a sense of dread about the future?
In 2008, a school was born in the jungles of Bali, Indonesia, that broke from the conventions of tranditional education by teaching young people in a natural setting, to give them a deeper connection with a natural world that is alien to so many students these days.
Green School, which now also has a campus in New Zealand and is soon to open another in South Africa, teaches students regular subjects like mathematics, history and literature, and it also teaches a broader set of skills that will be needed to adapt to a future of dwindling resources and apocalyptic extremes.
Green School educates through a holistic, community-integrated, entrepreneurial learning programme that readies young people for an uncertain future, and aims to create a future generation of what its founders, John and Cynthia Hardy, have called “green leaders.”
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We want to make it real.
Leslie Medema on teaching climate change
Leslie Medema, Green School, head of learning
Joining the Eco-Business Podcast to talk about how Green School teaches young people about climate change is Leslie Medema, Green School’s head of learning.
Tune in as we talk about:
- A day in the life at Green School
- How does discipline work at Green School?
- How to teach kids about climate change without scaring them
- Explaining the “real side” of climate change
- The school of the future
- Preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet
Production by Benjamin Wong
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