200+ Year 10 students join record-breaking educational event on climate change.
St. Peter’s Cambridge and STEM Curiosity charity have joined forces to deliver New Zealand’s biggest ever “Climate Fresk” event to over 200 Year 10 students across five days, empowering them to have climate change conversations backed by unequivocal scientific evidence, in their families, school, and community.
“By helping Year 10 students understand the science of human activities that are causing climate change, we hope to empower them to inspire new social norms,” says Dr Naomi Pocock, Director of STEM Curiosity. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which represents 195 countries who have agreed on the science, says immediate and urgent action is needed. We need everyone to understand, the science is clear.”
The Climate Fresk (‘Fresk’ meaning ‘fresco’ or ‘mural’) is a facilitated game developed in France explaining the causes and effects of climate change and empowering participants to take impactful actions in their local contexts. Played by over 2.2 million people globally and over 1,500 in New Zealand, the popularity of Climate Fresk is growing exponentially.
“With Climate Fresk, we hope youth will engage with the climate conversation. It’s a fun, interactive way to learn, but for society to shift, we need ongoing conversation. That’s why I’m so grateful to Climate Fresk NZ, Waikato Regional Council Enviroschools staff and Waipa District Council for their support in delivering these bulk workshops at St. Peter’s Cambridge,” say Pocock. “I am hopeful the conversations will reverberate.”
The Climate Fresk is deliberately designed to empower participants to think beyond their individual actions and to help others understand and act. “Our youth can help society reach ‘social tipping points’ – relatively small numbers of people understanding and acting, which will lead to self-perpetuating shifts in behaviour, attitudes and practices” says Pocock. “Thank you to St. Peter’s Cambridge for being the first Waikato school to deliver Climate Fresk events to their students. May others follow.”
The decisions we make this decade will reverberate for thousands of years, according to the IPCC. The more we do now, the greater the impact on future generations.