Education to nurture kindness in Chinese children

Empowering Chinese Children to Save the Planet from Climate Crisis

In the first half of 2023, our Caring for Life (CFL) Children’s education programme achieved significant milestones in promoting learning and environmental awareness. Pioneer schools successfully implemented the CFL curriculum, engaging over 6,000 students. Classes on togetherness encouraged interaction and understanding of animals, while the Community Parent-Child Activity Series provided families with exciting experiences centred around biodiversity and the environment. The World Meteorological Day talk raised awareness about climate change, motivating individuals to reduce their carbon footprint and the launch of the "Climate Change" teaching kit empowered teachers to address this important topic effectively. The publication of the Caring for Life Education textbook was widely celebrated by educators. These endeavours collectively fostered curiosity, empathy, and a sense of responsibility towards the environment among the students.

Earth Day 2023

Now in our third year of collaboration, we were delighted, as part of our CFL Children's education programme to participate in Earth Day, the annual global celebration to raise awareness to protect the Earth's natural resources. Earth Day is celebrated by over 1 billion people in more than 193 countries worldwide. This year's official theme is Invest in our Planet, and over two weeks, we reached over 33,000 children through schools in China. In preparation for Earth Day 2023, we held several Continuing Professional Development webinars for teachers and anyone registering for our Earth Day activities. The first webinar was solely focused on climate change. Many teachers in China do not understand climate change and its impact on our planet, so ACTAsia supports them so they can teach it. Our team provided a climate change-themed Toolkit to every teacher. This activity pack provided teachers with content, resources, background knowledge, and other activities related to climate change. Teachers could combine activities according to their student's needs, abilities, and availability. Content could be adapted to suit their local region, and teachers could use the Toolkit in any related lesson, such as science, or deliver the class lessons, after-school clubs, and youth centres both indoors and outdoors.

The Importance of Addressing climate change in Chinese Schools

The report, climate change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, released by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC), states that climate change poses a severe threat to human well-being and the health of the planet and that with global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees in the next 20 years, global action on climate change mitigation and adaptation is urgent. Findings show that a quarter of the world's natural lands are experiencing longer fire seasons due to rising temperatures and drought. Climate change is also increasing the spread of wildlife diseases and zoonotic diseases. A study of 976 species found that 47% of plant and animal extinctions were linked to climate change. The decline in species reduces the ability of ecosystems to provide services and their resilience to climate change. And frequent fires and reductions in ecosystem carbon stocks could dramatically increase the release of carbon into the atmosphere, triggering an ever-increasing vicious cycle for both climate change and ecosystems. 

SeeWo collaboration 

In partnership with the Chinese software business, SeeWo, which provides interactive educational software to Chinese schools, our goal is to reach even greater numbers of children this year to teach children how to protect our precious planet. SeeWo - part of a larger company called CVTE - developed an education platform that offers online teaching materials and remote lessons with real-life teachers via the Internet. Thanks to this collaboration - our first in the education sector - many thousands more children will now grow up with a better understanding of their actions' effect on the world. 

Impact of ACTAsia's Earth Day activities 

Thanks to the generous support we receive from our supporters, we have made a significant impact this year, reaching 33,696 children in 127 schools across China to celebrate Earth Day 2023. This includes 26,028 children from hard-to-reach rural areas, facilitated through our partnership with Seewoo online education platform. Through our Toolkit and training, teachers and students have actively engaged in learning about climate change and exploring practical actions they can take in their daily lives to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. 

We received many messages of support from schools after the Earth Day week of activities. As one teacher from Hongjun Liu School in Dongfeng, Wuhan, reported, "Students learned that the Greenhouse Effect is actually all around us. They now know what they must do to reduce carbon emissions!" 

Many thanks again for your support for ACTAsia's Caring for Life activities. 

Links:

• ACTAsia Earth Day 2023