Climate Action
The Learning Climate: Climate Education Week Winners!
May 27, 2015
The Learning Climate
Just over a month ago, coinciding with Climate Education Week, Earth Day Network held our first Climate Education Week Contest. The contest gave students from kindergarten to high school an opportunity to take a study break and draw, write and even video tape climate focused projects. Three different contests were held; a poster contest for kindergarten through fourth grade, a fiction story contest for middle school students and an environmental journalism contest for high school students. We would like to thank all of those who sent in submissions for the contests and to the teachers and parents who put climate education as a priority in their child’s education.
Poster Contest:
The poster contest was held for elementary school students (K-4) and focused on illustrating solutions to environmental problems. With such a great entries from waste to wildlife to energy production, we congratulate third graders Mercedes Lopez at Escontrias Elementary in El Paso, Texas, Tucker Denicore from Waterford, Virginia, and Johnny Mossa at Newfield School in Stamford, Connecticut. Check out their posters below.
Fiction Story Contest:
Middle schoolers competed in a writing contest about environmental issues affecting developing countries. We received stories of endangered animals confronting treats from humans and of animals facing altering habitat temperatures. Droughts, storms, restoration technologies, as well as cautionary tales for the future were explored through the essays. Congratulations to winners Madison Parker, Karli Uhrich, and Ashley Jannet S.
In “Nothing Remains” by sixth-grader Madison Parker (North Star Academy, Indianapolis, IN), habitat destruction forces a clan of gorillas from their home. The gorillas, all with Swahili names, face tragedy and heartbreak as they fight against environmental degradation.
Twelve-year-old Karli Uhrich (Mountain View Middle School, Bremerton, WA) tells a vivid story of a tragedy atop Mount Everest that teaches her community to respect the environment.
In “Rei’s Fear” by Ashley Jannet S (American School of Tampico, Tampico, Mexico), a student learns about one of the lesser-known consequences of climate change when an earthquake threatens her school.
Journalism Contest:
High school students participated in a journalism contests to tell the stories of people around the world fighting climate change. Through research and investigative reporting, students put together full length articles detailing their experience with the people of the front lines in the fight against climate change.
18–year–old Dakota Peterson learns about an interesting problem of environmental science—discovering climate data from before people began recording it. By talking to her neighbor, a dendrochronologist who studies the method of dating based on analyzing tree patterns of rings, Dakota educates her community on what the Earth looks like eons ago.
High school seniors Naomi Philhower and Robyn Margolin (Nyack High School, Nyack, NY) produced a video, The Story of Bob: An Environmentally Friendly Guy. The video follows Bob as he commits to a sustainable lifestyle.
Congratulations to all the winners and to all students who entered into the contest. Thank you to teachers around the world ensuring climate literacy is a priority in their classrooms.