Crisis Course

BY MO CHARNOT mo@sfreporter.com

Climate change can be a difficult subject to broach with children, especially when extreme weather including wildfires, floods and record-breaking heat waves have been defining the summer of 2023.

But in a new training program run by the Global Warming Express, New Mexico’s award-winning climate advocacy program, 10 teachers in Santa Fe Public Schools will increase climate awareness in their classrooms for the 2023-2024 school year.

“Where we’ve come with climate, it’s pretty obvious to anyone, especially kids—we’re in a crisis,” says Genie Stevens, executive director of the organization.

When the advocacy program kicked off, she says, global warming was hypothetical. “Eleven years ago, we weren’t really feeling the effects that much—although there were times when ash was falling out of the sky in Santa Fe, and kids couldn’t go in the public swimming pool. That was just the beginning, and in 11 years, things have escalated so fast.”

Applications for participating teachers are open through Aug. 15 for the program, designed for teachers with students between 8 and 12 years old. It combines earth science, climate science, resilient solutions, mindfulness, arts, advocacy and action in a hands-on, kinesthetic indoor/outdoor curriculum.

Stevens says weaving mindfulness training into climate education has emerged over time as a critical component.

Teachers can have a role, she says, in helping students mentally handle climate issues, which became evident after she saw kids who participated in the GWE’s early programs become “disenchanted and depressed” as they got older and noticed that little had been done to address the climate crisis.

“At this point, we don’t want to teach kids to burn themselves out,” Stevens explains. “Their action is really important, but it needs to be grounded in that mindfulness that we’re going to be teaching them. Because otherwise, they’ll become exhausted.”

Beverly Williams, a mentor for a GWE after-school program at the Mountain Mahogany Community School in Albuquerque, says letting children lead the way engages them without putting too much weight on their shoulders.

“Anything that’s fun, where kids have the agency to do it themselves, kids learn,” she

Global Warming Express offers teachers tools for classroom climate awareness

dividuals were: 25% more likely to live in areas with reductions in labor hours due to extreme temperatures; 15% more likely to live in areas with increases in childhood asthma diagnoses and 11% more likely to live in areas with increases in extreme temperature-related deaths, among other disadvantages.

Applications were originally due July 31, but the organization extended the deadline to Aug. 15 to garner more participants. In the application process, the GWE will evaluate teachers’ willingness to lead hands-on projects and outdoor learning. The teachers selected for this program will receive a $1,000 yearly stipend.

The curriculum will be provided through the GWE’s app, with weekly sessions that take about 20 minutes to complete. Teachers can pick and choose lessons based on their existing curriculum and available classroom time.

Books are also available to read or listen to on the app, including The Global Warming Express, written by Stevens’ daughter, Marina in 2016, when she was a middle-schooler at Desert Academy.

tells SFR. “It’s not my job to decide where the train is going. I’m there to provide the energy for the train to go, and make sure the tracks they’ve chosen are kept clear.”

In 2019, the third-grade students Williams mentored were instrumental in passing a plastic bag ban in Albuquerque (since repealed), five years after GWE students had worked toward passage of a similar law in Santa Fe. Williams coached the students in public speaking, accompanying them to five City Council meetings to put the pressure on officials.

“It made them feel like they really had a voice,” Williams said. “There’s so much they can gain from getting involved [with local politics].”

The training program will prioritize teachers and students in Santa Fe Public Schools this year, particularly in schools with a pronounced low-income demographic.

According to a 2021 study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency, low-income individuals are more likely to be exposed to the highest impacts of climate change. It found low-income in-

The GWE is also seeking after-school mentors and offers selected mentors a $500 yearly stipend. Mentors work in teams of two, running the after-school program once a week throughout the school year.

Paul Biderman, who served as the state Energy and Minerals Department secretary in the 1980s and who became a GWE mentor after retiring, says he joined the group to teach children about climate change through “playful, but educational” activities.

“We hope that this can expand to other communities besides Santa Fe and other schools here,” Biderman tells SFR. “More kids will have the chance to learn about this and not be misled by misinformation that’s out there.”

This January, Biderman worked with El Dorado Community teacher Hope Cahill to plan several eco-friendly activities with GWE students, including planting trees on the school’s campus to absorb more carbon dioxide from the air.

“I think the kids really are becoming more sensitized to the nature of the problem, and their responsibility to do something about it,” Biderman says.

Stevens says it’s important to run these programs over the course of the year to build relationships with students.

“We’re interested in not just exposing them to something, but having them really become engaged,” she says. “The way to do that is to take our time.”

To receive an application or more information, teachers or potential mentors can email tomás@theglobalwarmingexpress.org.

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