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Students from Bristol Aggie and the Azores explore climate education solutions at summit in Dighton. Where’s what happened.
DIGHTON, Mass. – The Stone Soup Leadership Institute opened its 19th Global Sustainability Summit at Bristol County Agricultural High School in Dighton, Mass., on Monday, June 5, kicking-off a week-long program for student participants from Massachusetts and Terceira, Azores with keynote remarks by Dean of the Massachusetts Senate Marc R. Pacheco (D-Taunton).
The 2023 Global Sustainability Summit – a hybrid event designed to empower students to envision personal, professional, community and planetary goals – will provide this year’s youth delegation intensive training on how to build a sustainable world.
“I am honored to have been invited to deliver keynote remarks at this week’s Global Sustainability Summit hosted by the Stone Soup Leadership Institute at Bristol County Agricultural High,” said Dean of the Massachusetts Senate Marc R. Pacheco. “Providing students accurate facts and information relative to our ongoing climate crisis has consistently proven to yield significant benefits and I am very pleased to support opportunities for climate education and international collaboration for local students in the district I represent.”
The Summit also features a variety of prominent sustainability experts and professionals including Ana Sophia Mifsud (Rocky Mountain Institute); Kersey Sturdivant PhD. (INSPIRE Environmental); Sena Wazer (The Climate Reality Project); Professor Robert Rak (The Blue Center, Bristol Community College); and a number of emerging leaders featured in Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: Life-Changing Stories of Young Heroes.
“The Stone Soup Leadership Institute would like to thank Keynote Speaker Senator Marc Pacheco for his leadership on the issue of climate change, and for being a champion for climate education,” said Stone Soup Leadership Institute Founding Director Marianne Larned. “We were extremely pleased to have recently awarded the Senator our organization’s Cronkite Award for Climate Education for his support for climate education opportunities, such as the ‘Climate Corps’ initiative recently approved by the Senate.”
Senator Pacheco sponsored a legislative amendment adopted unanimously by the Massachusetts Senate in its FY2024 State Budget supporting the implementation of curriculum-based service learning initiatives throughout the Commonwealth. Amendment 701 specifically authorizes the Secretary of Education to establish “a Climate Corps” in order to provide students a practical understanding of the overall topic and help Massachusetts maintain a robust clean energy economy.
“Beyond establishing new pipelines for our modern workforce, climate-based curriculum opportunities also ensure future generations understand the existential challenges affecting our planet,” added Senator Pacheco. “Many thanks to the Institute’s Founding Director Marianne Larned, her seasoned global team, and all the impressive students participating in this 19th Global Sustainability Summit.”
The Institute announces results of progress report on Climate Education in the U.S., Europe and Asia
At the Sustainability Summit, The Institute announced their new progress report on Climate Education in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
According to the Progress Report: Climate Education in the U.S., New Jersey and Connecticut are the first two states to legislate a mandate to require schools to teach climate education, which will implemented in all schools this fall. Other states are following in their footsteps and others are pursuing alternatives to mandates.
In turn, the Progress Report: Climate Education in Europe and Asia revealed that European and Asian countries are years ahead of the United States regarding climate education.
In 2015 at the Paris Agreement, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change was developed to encouraged everyone to develop climate education initiatives.
According to the report, European Union and Asian countries took this challenge very seriously and use the UNESCO framework: The Education for Sustainable Development: Towards Achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).
The Institute’s fact finding indicates Portugal has the best track in Europe when it comes to climate education
According to the survey ‘School Education Gateway (2020),’ conducted by Eramus in 36 European countries:
- The responsibility of climate education lies with schools.
- 70% respondents stated that the current school curriculum doesn’t address climate education.
It been eight years since the Paris Agreement – how we they doing?
Portugal has the best track record in Europe. In Terceira, Azores, they even have the United Nations Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) goals prominently featured in their school lobby.
Students explore sustainable workforce development opportunities at summit
At the Institute’s Sustainability Summit this week, youth delegates made presentations on six of the 17 UNSDG goals, touching upon on how climate change affects the implementation of climate education goals in their communities as well as the sustainability innovations being developed.
Each afternoon, students explored sustainable workforce development opportunities and developed their Sustainable Career Pathways and 5-year plans to pursue meaningful good-paying jobs, while helping to rebuild our planet.
“The transition to a sustainable economy is the most challenging issue of the 21st century,” said Marianne Larned. “Young people deserve the best educational tools to prepare them for their future. They are eager to learn about climate education and how to pursue their sustainable career pathways. It’s up to each one of us to respond and to take action with the urgency of now.”
