“I present to you, Dr. Holdren, a mix of directives for action and hopes for the future from 110 eighth grade students, 40 seventh graders and 1 sixth grader. I am Beckie Alexander from Breck School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I teach eighth grade earth science. 2050 is often used as a marker year for future climate change targets and impacts. In that year, I will be 86 years old and my students will be 49. Most of the negotiators and decision makers here at COP21 will be retired by 2050. My students and my children will be in the heart of their lives – some will be parents, some designers, writers, inventors, teachers, politicians. All will be world citizens. Your actions here will determine their climate future; it is their world for which you are negotiating. It is my students, my children, and their friends that will be living in the legacy of COP21. Please keep them in your heart during the final days of these negotiations.”
These are the words I spoke to Dr. John Holdren, Science Advisor to the President, today in a second floor library at the U.S. Embassy to France.
“Please let them know that I have five grandchildren, ranging in age from 16-24. I will be thinking of them.” That was Dr. Holdren’s response to me.
Our Climate Generation educator delegation had a private meeting with Dr. Holdren in Paris today. He is incredibly personable and the meeting was more informal than I expected. In preparation for this meeting, I had students at my middle school write position statements about COP21 and climate change. I had intended to have them all write a persuasive formal essay stating their position on climate change, but I decided that the impact of their thoughts would be greater if each student built upon their strengths. As a result, in the book I presented to Dr. Holdren, students created poems, illustrations, cut paper designs, formal writing, personal pictures, and two movies. One might ask, “how does one put a movie into a book?” I certainly asked that question when Max stated his plan. His instantaneous response: “I will link it to a QR code and put the QR code in the book.” “Brilliant!” I said.
The comments in the book were developed after my students learned about the science of climate change and researched one of five countries and its relationship with climate change. Each country we studied represented a type of country or negotiating block here at COP21. China represented a developing country with high emissions. The USA is a developed country with high emissions. Germany is a developed country with declining emissions and has a national commitment to renewable energy. The Maldives is a small island nation with its highest elevation at one meter above sea level and nearly negligible carbon emissions (therefore essentially zero contribution to the climate crisis). Nigeria is a developing country with low emissions but has an interesting relationship with climate change since oil is their major export. At the conclusion of this research the students were ready to state their thoughts and demands to the negotiators at COP21.
My students’ comments were thoughtful and passionate. I am left stunned by the the magnitude of the stakes here at COP21. These kids will be living the legacy left in the wake of these negotiations.
