A charity is spearheading a campaign to teach 26,000 schoolchildren and their teachers about environmentally friendly diets and the ways they can deal with the emotional impact of climate change.
The Country Trust’s ‘Climate Action Farm in a Box’ aims to teach children the link between the environment and the food they eat through a number of hands-on activities. Schools will also get the opportunity to hear from the farmers who produce their food and from extreme weather climate scientists to discover how they are all adapting to and tackling climate change.
The charity has been a big demand for the packs, and they have already delivered 1,000 to Key Stage 2 teachers, covering ages 7-11 years olds in school.
The packs also include lessons to support schoolchildren build emotional resilience to climate change and deal with eco-anxiety, which has increased significantly in children and young people in recent years. According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, more than half of young people are experiencing distress about the state of the environment.
The initiative also comes off the back of a recent report by Teach the Future, which found that seven out of 10 teachers felt they have not received adequate training to educate students on climate change.
Jill Attenborough, CEO of The Country Trust, said:
Most of us don’t farm but we all eat and therefore we’re all participants in agriculture through the choices we make. Climate Action Farm in a Box supports children to be curious, make connections with the world around them, and grow in confidence to become active participants in tackling the climate crisis.
The charity acknowledged that while science forms a large part of climate change education, they wanted to empower children to be resilient to change, and enable them to make informed decisions and positively influence others to do the same.
The packs are free for eligible schools. For more information, please visit: countrytrust.org.uk/news/post/climate-action-farm-in-a-box
Image by The Country Trust