5 minute read
profile: local organisation, access
ACCESS TO A BETTER PLANET
WE TAKE A LOOK AT HOW A LOCAL ORGANISATION IS MAKING THE EARTH A HEALTHIER PLACE.
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By: Mukosi Fulu
Why is planet earth the only known planet in the cosmos that supports life? The Alliance and Collaboration for Climate and Earth Systems Science (ACCESS) function primarily on research and educating students in and around South Africa about questions like this.
So many things had to go right for you and me to exist. The earth had to be located at the right position, tilted on its axis – that way, we have variable seasons that means we don't get scorched by the sun or freeze. Adding to that, the earth is equipped with many systems that regulate the climate to support life. The study of these systems is called Earth Systems Science. This is the science behind ACCESS's existence.
With depleting natural resources, understanding our climatic history and modelling our future can help us make better decisions and changes regarding our use of the available resources. It is a crucial study in understanding climate change.
In its education programme, ACCESS deconstructs the science and makes it accessible to people from different educational backgrounds through fun and immersive lessons reinforced by field trips.
As Dr Carl Palmer, the education and training national portfolio manager of ACCESS says: "I don’t believe science is hard; it's just been taught poorly for many years". He makes sure he facilitates his lessons with that goal in mind, teaching science in it's simplicity.
Q&A TIME!
Dr Palmer explains how the ACCESS organisation and programme works.
Q: Tell us about ACCESS.
At its inception in the late 2000s, ACCESS was supposed to be the “African Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science”. It was initiated by Prof George Philander, a famous South African climate scientist who has worked for both Princeton in the USA and UCT. He noted that the new IPCC “African” climate centre was to be based in the UK, and rather thought that Africa should have a climate centre based in Africa.
Unfortunately, since then we’ve been told we are not allowed to use the words “Africa” or the word “centre”, so we are now the Alliance for Collaboration on Climate and Earth Systems Science. We still maintain the ambition of being a truly African climate centre. ACCESS has both a research and education programme.
The research programme targets MSc, PhD and postdoctoral students. The education side is called the Habitable Planet Workshop (HPW) Programme and works with learners and students from schools to honors level. HPW teaches students the story of “Earth Systems Science” (the science behind issues such as climate change) and about South Africa’s unique place in this story.
Q: Who is your target audience and how do they get involved with your programmes?
The HPWs are targeted at final year undergraduates and happen at locations around South Africa two to three times a year. To get involved with the HPW undergraduate programme (where most people enter), you simply have to fill out an application form for one of our events. All it requires is some basic information, a motivation letter and an essay. You can find out when and where HPW events are happening by following us on social media.
Q: Can anyone else other than your target audience get involved in your programmes?
We will consider anyone for our workshops and have had an 18-year-old matric learner and a 68-year-old granny take the course in the past. However, you do need to be 18 or over, and preference is given to final-year undergraduates.
Q: What are some big achievements that ACCESS has made?
We’ve been running successful training workshops all over Africa for over 10 years, graduating over 1 500 students from the programme. We’ve also run undergraduate workshops in Namibia, Kenya and Zimbabwe. In the same period, we have now run schools programmes in nearly all RSA provinces and completed online programmes with students from India, Ghana and Cameroon. To be honest, though, I think the biggest achievement is the impact the workshops have on the students, who regularly report that attending HPW changed their life.
Q: What is your take on the globe going completely clean?
You can’t go completely clean when it comes to energy – even solar panels have a carbon footprint. We can hope to generate energy in a more sustainable and economical manner, leaving the planet in a better condition than we would have otherwise.
Q: Do you think going clean is achievable and viable for Africa?
Whereas clean energy is probably cheaper and can create jobs, the jobs it creates tend to be more skilled. That sounds like bad news in a continent still reliant on a lot of manual labour, and activities like mining, for employment.
The upshot is that, if Africa is going to become more sustainable, there are two possibilities, either (i) we carry on as we are and these skilled jobs go to better-educated foreigners, leaving Africans suffering mass unemployment and poverty for decades to come or (ii) we train more scientists ready to take these skilled jobs. I suggest Africa needs to focus on the latter option. If we do so, it's both viable and achievable, yes.
Q: What would you say to a student who thinks science is too hard?
I don’t believe science is hard; it's just been taught poorly for many years. I invite anyone to come to an HPW and experience how it should be taught for themselves. As for jobs, as I hinted above, I expect a sustainable future will create a lot more skilled science jobs. Even if I am wrong, a degree in science teaches you to think critically and use empiricism and statistics. These are skills needed to get ahead in almost every job and, in fact, in life in general.
