On Saturday April 29th, Boston Youth on Board (YOB), Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) and myself went to the Boston Common to participate in the Boston Climate March. The website of this event can be found at http://peoplesclimate.org
We spent the late morning and early afternoon engaging with the visitors on the Boston Common and YOB and BSAC students explained to the public the work we have put together around ensuring that all students have access to lessons on climate change in their science classes.
One of the YOB members, Kathleen Alvarez gave an impassioned speech from the Gazebo in the Boston Commons in front of thousands of people highlighting the impact of student activism, and fighting for access to climate change curriculum.
From 1:30pm to 2:45pm we hosted a climate change curriculum teach in, where we demonstrated to the public what our project offers, and how to engage with the material. We split up the attendees and taught the scope and framework of the lessons to each small group. The groups of visitors then rotated through all of the different divisions of the curriculum from elementary school, middle school and high school.
The teach in was an amazing success where we were able to communicate our ideas, receive constructive feedback and make valuable connections within the community. Nicole Fleming, a reporter from The Boston Globe came to the workshops and even wrote about our event in the Sunday Globe. The article can be found here. Thousands rally on Boston Common to demand action on climate change.
It was an amazing day to be around like minded people who care about the environment and implementing solutions to problems we will face with climate change. Additionally I was extremely impressed with the YOB and BSAC students, and their ability to effectively communicate their ideas about the climate change curriculum to the public.