Climate Education
EARTH DAY GOES BACK TO CLASS
May 15, 2025
Emily Walker, Snr Coordinator, Climate Education Initiatives
EARTH DAY GOES BACK TO CLASS
Earth Day is a day of education, activation, and a moment for all of us including students and educators to reflect and create their own individual Earth Day stewardship stories.
Earth Day has been an integral part of building a sense of community since 1970 when the start of the environmental movement really began to take shape around that very first Earth Day on April 22, organized by student activist Denis Hayes.
20 million Americans made their voices heard that day by marching on the street and demanding action to protect the planet, many of them were still at school or college at the time.
Many young people didn’t just march, they raised their voices, a chorus of individual demands uniting into a powerful call for planetary protection. Each step taken wasn’t just one person’s action but a collective, demonstrating how important it is for collaboration when it comes to solving problems on a local and global level. To take that first step, we must begin with providing a platform for our young people to feel safe, heard, and valued.
EARTHDAY.ORG has worked with millions of students since, all across the globe to grow and continue the Earth Day conversation ever since. This year we invited schools to participate in the first ever Earth Day Showcase. Students were encouraged to use EARTHDAY.ORG resources to guide their learning allowing them to choose their own learning journey and to create solutions on local environmental and climate issues.
By tackling 4 important EARTHDAY.ORG topics : how can we reduce plastic waste, what types of renewable energy is best for our community, what sustainable clothing changes can we make around fast fashion and foodprints, which asked how students could eat more sustainably at school. Students were encouraged to debate, discuss and answer these important questions while taking real, direct action in their own community.
Pune, India
In India more than 80 percent of people live in districts that are at risk of climate-induced disasters, such as flooding, heat waves and cyclones, according to the World Bank. Due to these rise in extreme weather events, issues around water scarcity, clean water access, and changing weather patterns, have made climate education a focus for many schools. For example, Vidya Valley School in India participated in a Reviving Rivers Events where they advocated for cleaner water ways.
“This year, we highlighted climate education from students’ perspectives by showcasing their Earth Day projects. It’s inspiring to see young kids learning and celebrating the Earth through fun, hands-on activities.”
Namibia, Southern Africa
Namibia, located in southern Africa, has a climate highly prone to extreme weather such as droughts. Students at the International School of Walvis Bay, Namibia took materials, even trash, and reimagined them as clothing to start a conversation on fast fashion.
Fast Fashion has become a major source of pollution and waste. Students were able to ask themselves, what materials can we use to reduce clothing waste? Creation and innovation took center stage when they put on a renewable fashion show for their school helping to amplify in their own community an important message about our throwaway culture.
In the last 20 years, global textile production has doubled from 58 million tonnes to 116 million by 2022, by 2030 this figure is expected to reach 147 million tonnes. What’s helping to drive this is our fast fashion culture which means that while we bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than we did in 2000, we only kept them in our closets for half as long.
Virginia, U.S
First Grade students at Buffalo Trail Elementary School in Virginia, U.S., took to the cafeteria for their Earth Day action.
Working with school officials, students created videos and posters to have their first ever, “Plastic Free Lunch Day” on April 22nd. They were inspired by their former teacher, now an EDO climate education team member, our very own Emily Walker! The students rejected using single use plastics and instead advocated for compostable utensils.
“I am so proud of the student advocacy and action these students demonstrated, they are changemakers!”
Hagåtña, Guam
80% of waste generated by schools is recyclable but only 20% gets recycled. With such a big source of waste within the school, students at the Academy of Our Lady of Guam created a school-wide poster campaign for making more environmentally friendly choices such as recycling and using less plastic.
Shanghai, China
Getting students interested in protecting the planet was the main goal of the Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School in China. They had student speakers present to other students about the importance of protecting the local environment on Earth Day and every day.
Students not only used their voices to keep their community safe and healthy but inspired people beyond their school walls to see how young people can and will mobilize for Earth Day. Let’s continue to open doorways for students to connect, collaborate, and find meaning in the things they do. Please use the free resources on our Climate Education page and help us grow the Earth Day movement.
