Jonathon Porritt visits The Sustainability Centre

Climate change is urgent, it is an issue for this generation and we need to act now.

This message was delivered by none other than Jonathon Porritt of Forum for the Future at The Sustainability Centre in October 2009. Eighty people, most of them local teachers and head teachers were at the conference organised by the Centre for Global Awareness in conjunction with the Sustainability Centre. The event entitled Sustainable Schools for a Fairer World: Beyond Recycling Projects, was the culmination of some inspiring work the CGA have been doing over the past three years with schools in the region.

At one point Jonathon Porritt held up a map. It was the most recent projection from the Met Office of the effect of a six degree temperature rise on the planet www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2009/oct/22/climate-change-carbon-emissions. There was a lot of red on it. There were also, mapped upon it, terrible tales of cyclones, droughts, flooding and famine of biblical proportions.

But, he stressed, none of it has to happen. He urged the listeners not to be stunned into inertia by the scale of the problem. There is what he called a 'window of opportunity'. He explained that it is not so large that we can sit around gazing through it, imagining what could be and thinking as if it is a problem for the future. We need to actively create the view that will bring about a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

The question that naturally arises here is how do we do it? This is where the superficially 'environmental' issue of climate change meets with its two, equally important counterparts of social and economic equity. It is where the three strand issue of sustainability and climate change collide. In the education world this is known as Global Citizenship.

Global Citizenship is about understanding your place in and effect on others and the world. I''s about people care, earth care and fair shares; hearts, minds and souls. To teach children about Global Citizenship you need to empower them to care for themselves, for others and for the environment on local to global scales.

For the assembled teachers and head teachers there were some encouraging and enlightening workshops delivered by teachers who had been involved in the CGA's three year project. These were delivered in the Sustainability Centre's refreshing, multifunctional spaces such as the yurt, the cafe and the eco-lodge common room.

The CGA and The Sustainability Centre are going to be working together over the next few months to develop a whole school approach to Global Citizenship and Sustainable Schools, we are really looking forward to working with schools to help them on their journeys transform into working examples of sustainability full of confident and informed young citizens.