Climate Advocates Voces Unidas
We’ll be soliciting videos about climate adaptation ideas and projects from students and their teachers across the state.
Our hope, through this project, is to help reshape the conversation about climate change towards a more hopeful vision of the future, one in which humanity and the natural systems we love and depend upon endure because of intelligent interventions by passionate people. The flood of bad news about climate change have caused many people, old and young alike, to distance themselves from the issue, but we need all hands on deck to be thinking about some of the ways that we can adapt to the changes we’re already causing. Participating kids and teachers will walk away with storytelling skills, a more comprehensive understanding of small and broad-scale climate adaptation (which addresses Next Generation Science Standards), and a sense that while climate change is a serious issue, human innovation, and their ideas specifically, can ensure our continued thriving and surviving even if we initially miss our mitigation targets.
As we begin to see the impacts of climate change in New Mexico, from more mosquitos to hotter summer temperatures, it’s becoming increasingly important to talk about practical measures to make our lives, loved ones, and the landscapes we care about more resilient to our changing environment. Driving your car less may reduce your carbon footprint, but it doesn’t necessarily help you or your environment cope with the impacts of climate change. The good news, however, is that adaptation solutions are out there! Communities and individuals have been innovating and adapting since time immemorial, and now is the time to provide a venue by which this collective genius can emerge once again.
Videos must describe 1) what climate impact the submitter is trying to address, and 2) how they plan on addressing it. We encourage students to think outside the box! We’ll be judging based on scientific merit, creativity, efficacy, and practicality (among other metrics) so broad, bold ideas will be considered alongside smaller, more implementable ones. To facilitate learning outcomes and submissions, CAVU will be providing educational materials and potential lessons plans, training for teachers through one-day summer institutes, and in-class support for those teachers who request it.
-CAVU will provide tutorial and example videos for use in the classroom in both English and Spanish.
-Free resources for teachers and students, including supplemental curricula and tutorial videos, are available at CAVU.org/CIC. Additionally, CAVU staff will mentor select schools (based on need for equitable access) to supplement classroom lessons with video/editing instruction, project development/guidance and guest speakers.
Students will create a short video (3 minutes max) that explains an adaptation idea they have or project that they’ve done that has made them, their home, their family, their community, and/or their environment more resilient. » Submissions will be accepted from groups of 1-5 students with no more than 2 adult advisors.
Example: Creating home “wildfire preparedness kits”
Example: Organizing a community emergency response team
Example: Determining more efficient ways to use irrigation water
Example: Painting pavement white to reduce urban heat island effect
Example: Erecting check dams and swales to improve infiltration in backyard/sidewalk
Example: Finding culturally permissible substitutes for plants or trees needed for a particular ritual or cultural function (eg. Christmas trees)
Example: Placing a rock rundown on the downstream side of a culvert
