Guest Blog: 1.5 Max Global Schools Climate Summit

By Tom Bird // Sustainability Partnerships // Project supported by the 2050x fund

As a maths teacher in a comprehensive secondary school in Scotland, I have long felt that my platform as a teacher could be used far better to make an impact on young people’s thinking regarding climate change – and this year, it weighed on my conscience more than ever. This is Scotland’s Year of Climate Action, the year when we host the UN Climate Change conference, COP26. A historic opportunity! But can governments imagine the new future or are we consigned to repeat our mistakes until it is too late?

Young people are the ones who will have to survive in the difficult circumstances we leave them in, and many of them are suffering from real anxiety about climate change. We aim to help young people to become expert in the science of climate change, the politics and social justice issues that lie behind the statistics, and to help them to imagine a new world where humans can live in a way that is genuinely sustainable for all. Many of us share the vision of our schools acting as hubs for change and leadership. Empowered young people can play a leading role in their families, communities and beyond.

This project, made possible through the 2050 Climate Group’s 2050x fund and organised by myself at Sustainability Partnerships (www.sustainabilitypartnerships.org.uk), is an online global schools’ summit called ‘1.5 Max’. It brings together six Scottish schools and three overseas schools for three days in October in order to become more knowledgeable about the various attempts we have made in the past to combat climate change, to analyse what is going on in different countries today, and to make suggestions on what our next steps should be. 

As well as hard facts and statistics, we will be presenting pupils with a series of stories from different parts of the world in order to make them aware of the actual human impacts. The final day will be given over to students to produce something that presents their deliberations and ideas in creative and surprising ways. To ease anxiety and to encourage optimism we will use games-based approaches. The underlying message will embody cooperation, but there will be competition and fun too!

Schools in the cluster will work in three teams. Each team will consist of a Scottish lead or partner school, an overseas partner school and a Scottish network school. The Scottish schools represented will be geographically and socioeconomically diverse. The overseas schools will come from lower to middle income countries that are facing radically different social and environmental conditions, and who are facing substantially different and challenging climate change issues. These countries may be already badly hit by the impacts of climate change. 

The pupils will have the opportunity to become ‘Young STEM Leaders’, an award given in recognition of their initiative and leadership activities.  

We finished recruiting schools in early May, but we are building a team to get the word out to schools across Scotland that the resources we are assembling for the summit, along with the suggested workshop activities, will be made freely available on our website.

We aim to make it easier for any school to plan and hold their own event in whatever way suits. This might be from lesson to lesson, or in partnership with another school. We will disseminate a guide on the various ways that schools can run the event in the coming months.

Please get in touch via the contact form on our website if you wish to be involved in making 1.5 Max a success. We are also keen to discuss how primary schools can hold a similar event.

From schools taking part in the cluster delivering the most ambitious version of the summit, we will involve: 

• 16 pupils with an interest in learning about climate change and making a difference 

• Two teachers who can take part as facilitators and coaches during the summit workshops. Full training will be given.

• A ‘key contact’ who is willing to fill out the school’s brief self-evaluation on learning for sustainability and coordinate the school’s input to the summit, including attendance of fortnightly planning meetings with other school contacts in the cluster. Significant supply cover will be available.

This is a great opportunity for young people to engage in a positive way with the most serious issue facing the planet. We see 1.5 Max as a first step rather than the end of the story.