My friend, brilliant climate scientist, skilled author, and badass activist,
decided to rid herself of the imaginary shackles of scientific impartiality to take a stand. She didn’t stop doing rigorous research, shun objectivity, or abandon her commitment to peer review. She held onto the value of data and demonstrable evidence that – once upon a time at a moment in our history that feels impossibly far away – was called fact.Who else but a climate scientist, she wonders, is in a position to name the problem (it’s us) and describe the severity of the problem (it’s bad)? Who else can help us find agency – and purpose – when it comes to the climate crisis (we can fix it)?
In her substack (and in greater detail in her awesome book Under the Sky We Make), Kim helps us “tackle the climate crisis with facts, feelings, and action.”
Want to know her suggested action this month? 1000 hours outside (inspired by @1000hoursoutside. That’s it. Simple.
I LOVE this. Perfect for an individual or family to undertake.
Since I’m writing about mainstreaming apple-a-day nature-based learning, I want to suggest an equivalent action for teachers: 120 minutes of learning outdoors each week.
A Giant Parasol
First, let’s start with Kim’s concern about our over-reliance and overconfidence in tech’s ability to save us from the climate crisis. Just this weekend, the NYTimes published a straight-faced piece about a giant parasol blasted into space that might help restore our global climate.
Fingers crossed 🤞and I am still going to take action to reduce my own carbon emissions. Unfortunately…I might be a bit of an anomaly in that recommitment to personal action. Kim shared:
Research shows unrealistic expectations for technology to solve climate change decreased (1) climate policy support and (2) political engagement, two things we desperately need more of! Vague handwaving about possible technical breakthroughs down the road can even be used as a discourse of climate delay.
I am concerned about our over-reliance and outsized faith in technology to save us from our education crisis, too, because it 1) historically has not panned out, 2) gobbles up monster sums of resources (wrote about this), and 3) distracts us from real, tangible action and our responsibility to the 1.3 billion students in schools right now.
The vast majority of these 1.3 billion students are not in schools where any tech-based revolution is an imminent – or even distant – possibility for betterment even *IF* we KNEW A GOOD TECH SOLUTION (which we don’t!). And, tying back to climate, these students are at this very moment living through and in climate crises or in situations exacerbated by our planet’s warming. Extreme poverty. Food insecurity and hunger. Homelessness. Violence. Hunger. Sea level rise. Displacement, placelessness…loss of identity.
And they are drowning in irrelevance of it all. And a sense of hopelessness.
In a global survey about climate anxiety administered to 10,000 young people from from countries as different as Finland and Nigeria, researchers found that…
56% of young people said “humanity is doomed.”
59% were very or extremely worried about climate change
>50% reported each of the following emotions: sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty.
>45% of respondents said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning
75% said that they think the future is frightening
65% said – in relation to climate change – governments are “failing young people across the world.”
1000 hours - 120 minutes
I love that Kim’s tangible action – what we so desperately need – is eminently do-able for SO many people. No inventions needed — just go outside (wrote about this here). It will take different forms for each person, but spending 1000 hours outdoors over the course of a year — whether porch sitting or butterfly tracking — is something many people can do. It costs little. And it has real, tangible benefits (Kim cites this if you want more info).
In the realm of mainstreaming apple-a-day nature-based learning and real, tangible beneficial actions WITHIN REACH, a good ambitious target would be for all teachers (in schools with a safe outdoor space) to teach their students outdoors for at least 120 minutes each week. This rests on recent research that says 120 minutes – in small chunks or in one solid dose – shows a positive impact on self-reported wellbeing and health. That’s just the tip of the iceberg for all of the benefits of time outdoors for mental and physical health, cognitive function, equity, and more (wrote about this here). And of the positive-positive feedback loop where these experiences in, with, and of nature perpetuate the wellbeing and learning benefits and grow champions for the planet who feel a sense of agency to effect change.
Last week, a teacher in an informal settlement in Nairobi taught his 70 (in one class!) 10-12 year old students outdoors for 3 x 35 minutes segments totally 145 minutes. They learned about block mountain formation. About fungi. They searched for mushrooms. They explored soil health and crop production. He’s there. He’s doing it. His students enjoyed it, he said, and he concluded “Embracing outdoor classes is the best decision in 2024 and beyond.”
It’s no space parasol. It’s a walk in the park.
❤️ Becca
Becca, I love this post! It is a real joy to see your new and wonderful ideas and actions growing from soil that my work may have played a small part to help nourish. To me it really shows how good can ripple outwards, even if often we never know in what ways. Thank you for all the good work you’re doing! And I hope you’re having fun outside ☀️