Waking up Whatcom Youth
Local environmental and educational programs come together to find innovative ways to teach children about climate change.
Story by MacKenzie Dexter | Photos by Christa Yaranon
After the last bell rings at Alderwood Elementary School, a swarm of kids pull on their rain boots, put on their jackets and follow a line to the nearest park. It’s a weekly tradition: Two hours each Wednesday is spent out in nature. A rainbow of little boots splash into puddles from the morning rain. Laughing children play house, climb trees and bicker over who gets the best branch. For Wild Whatcom’s after-school program, Neighborhood Nature, the primary goal is for children to engage with the environment around them.
Neighborhood Nature is a local response to a vast body of research on American children and technology. A 2018 study found that the average kid in America looks at a screen for more than seven hours a day — spending only four to seven minutes of playtime outside.
Giving kids the time to explore the outdoors not only lets them release their energy, but it also allows them to learn and question the world they live in, said Hannah Newell, school program manager for Wild Whatcom.
“Rain or shine, we go outside for two hours and just kind of feed off of their energy with the structure of giving them the chance to explore nearby nature,” Newell said, looking out fondly at a field of playing children. “So we always have the ability to walk to a park or a forested area and [give] them games to play, opportunities to connect.”
Newell said that an important part of Neighborhood Nature is being conscious of the outdoors and making sure kids observe the land in their own way.
“We talk a lot about how you can connect with nature and how it looks different for everybody,” Newell said. “Someone might be really into birds, someone might be really into mushrooms and insects where someone might just really want to move their bodies and play games outside. But [in] each of those ways that we interact with the natural world, we do have an impact.”
Through Wild Whatcom’s other programs, such as Explorers Club and EdVenture, kids receive lessons about minimizing negative impacts on the environment. In each session, adult mentors ask the children questions to promote curiosity and reflection. These questions often involve reflecting on how the land looks different from their last visit or how they could leave the area looking better than before. Newell said that they will assign “Earth keepers” to assess the area and make sure the group doesn’t leave anything behind, like picking up a wrapper dropped by a peer.
While the questions they ask the kids often receive insightful responses, Newell said the best part of her job is engaging with the questions the kids ask in return, including one student’s question about plant life.
“We’re sitting on this grass and [a student] goes, ‘You know, we’ve been injuring plants all day long and I wonder how this grass feels about getting cut every single day,’” Newell said.
The girl continued by pondering whether the scent of fresh-cut grass is actually the grass sending out distress signals.
Although Wild Whatcom has created programs for students and schools to interact with the environment, there remains a looming question of how to teach children about the climate crisis in the classroom.
“We’re sitting on this grass and [a student] goes, ‘You know, we’ve been injuring plants all day long and I wonder how this grass feels about getting cut every single day,’” Newell said.
While roughly 86% of teachers and 80% of parents support climate change curriculum, the question becomes: How do we even begin?
Licia Sahagun, executive director for Wild Whatcom, said that while discussions about climate change can be overwhelming and daunting, they are important conversations to have with adults and kids.
“We’re willing to have hard conversations,” Sahagun said.
As they gather pieces of bark, rocks and leaves at Fisher Elementary School, a group of 40 teachers become the students. Educators from across seven school districts spent their Saturday participating in ClimeTime, a training session on how to incorporate the basics of climate science and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into their everyday teaching.
Organizations like RE Sources, Common Threads and Wild Whatcom come together to teach the basics of climate science. According to a survey taken upon arrival, 69% of educators are not teaching climate science because they don’t believe they have adequate knowledge of the topic to do so. The goal is for teachers to be able to align their regular lessons with what they’ve learned in the training. It will give them the tools to answer hard questions students may have in an engaging and proactive way.
The NGSS grant was installed in 2018–2019, implemented by Gov. Jay Inslee and facilitated by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and UW Institute for Science & Math Education. The Washington State Legislature allocated $4 million to Educational Service Districts and community organizations to teach Washington state educators about NGSS and climate science.
“A lot of times when we talk about climate science, it’s like all these things around the world are happening, but [this program looks at] what’s actually happening right in your area that you can actually have a direct effect on it,” Newell said.
The knowledge around climate science takes place at different levels, even with teachers. However, the training is centered around the basics, such as the human impact on the carbon cycle.
At these trainings, teachers often participate in the activities designed for their students. During a January session, teams of teachers were assigned different environments, such as oceans and lakes, and taught how carbon moves through the air with a game.
“[It’s about] letting them know that it’s okay not to know,” said Liz Manz. “We can go out and try to find the answers.”
Teachers were also asked to explain climate science in 10 words or less, as a way to simplify definitions and be conscious of how important language is, especially when it comes to complex topics. They were then asked to go around the room and share their words with each other. Some responses included, “We live in balance,” and “We change the climate, it changes us.”
Jenna Deane, program manager of Common Threads Farm, said for many teachers, it’s hard to incorporate climate science into their busy schedules and lesson plans. ClimeTime is a way to teach and encourage educators to find a way to incorporate the conversation inside and outside the classroom.
Liz Manz, a third-grade teacher at Irene Reither Elementary School explained how she approaches tough questions her students may ask while they’re at school.
“[It’s about] letting them know that it’s okay not to know,” said Manz. “We can go out and try to find the answers.”
Glenn DePeralta, another third-grade teacher at Irene Reither, said that his students will ask him to search questions that they have on Google.
“They already know how to find information, they just need me to help them navigate,” DePeralta said. “Sometimes if I don’t know something I’ll say, ‘Well, how can we find out?’”
DePeralta said that the consciousness of our world and problems is being implemented through news, conversations and the internet. Students just need help to understand and process it.
“Really, climate change is going to affect everything,” Deane said. “So there is an angle into whatever topic you’re teaching about to bring that in. I hope that they take away that it is an approachable subject.”
With such a positive reaction, trainings and waitlists are filling up, Newell said, and it’s clear that change is wanted and people are eager to learn.
“It’s their world now,” Deane said. “[Climate change] will only continue to be a conversation that they should be part of as they mature into adults. It’s going to be up to them to continue to try to find solutions to adapt to whatever changes we experience in whatever part of the world we’re in.”
