CLIMATE CARAVAN: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION FOR A CHANGING WORLD

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ Climate Caravan is a nonprofit organization supported by the National Geographic Society and Microsoft. It aims to empower children in countries impacted by climate change by providing inquiry-based education and amplifying their voices and stories such that children elsewhere acquire a better understanding of climate change. This summer, the Climate Caravan traveled across Mongolia. While climate change affects everyone in the world, it affects some more severely than others. Leveraging the growing availability of the Internet in remote corners of the world, where the effects of climate change are often more palpable, the Climate Caravan endeavors to create an online learning platform that connects schoolchildren from Mongolia, one such remote corner, with their counterparts in the United States and elsewhere. Through a culturally-sensitive, original story and multimedia learning materials, the Climate Caravan will provide an engaging, inquiry-based environmental curriculum that will allow Mongolian schoolchildren to identify environmental issues and share their own ethnographic accounts with peers in other corners of the world. In learning from one another, this humanizes the discussion around climate change and these children will understand the necessity of collective action in fighting the consequences of climate change and associated environmental issues. On the ground in locations impacted by climate change, the Climate Caravan does 3 things with students ages 8-12: 1. It shares an original illustrated storybook written about environmental challenges facing the region as a way to more deeply engage students. 2. Together with students, the Climate Caravan records ethnographic interviews with elders in their community to document the environmental changes taking place and the impact on daily lives 3. Its inquiry-based curriculum delves in to the natural processes of environmental pressures they face and builds practical skills necessary for them to take action. Then, the Climate Caravan uses its online learning platform to curate the stories collected in each field location and create a curriculum that brings global perspectives to environmental education. Why did Climate Caravan choose to start in Mongolia? Over the past 70 years, average temperatures in Mongolia have risen 2.1°C, more than double the global average, making it one of the countries most affected by climate change. This rapid warming has contributed to the degradation of the country’s vast grasslands, threatening many Mongolians’ traditional nomadic way of life. As the effects of climate change proliferate, Mongolia’s younger generation will need to better understand its causes and consequences in order to create a more sustainable, resilient future. The Climate Caravan aims to help them get there through our inquiry-based curriculum. This summer, Climate Caravan engaged in three trips throughout Mongolia. June 20-28 - Omnogobi: In collaboration with The Snow Leopard Trust, Climate Caravan travelled to the eco-camps of Tost bag, Gurvan tes soum. July 10-25 - Ulaanbaatar: Climate Caravan visited 3 summer campus close to Ulaanbaatar. September 1-15 - Bayankhongor, Govi-Altai, Khovd: Climate Caravan will drive from UB to Khovd, stopping at the schools in the provincial capitals of each aimag we stopped through. Climate Caravan received a grant from National Geographic Society through its ​Early Career Grant​. It also received a financial contribution from Microsoft. It is continuing to collect ethnographic interviews through its website. By the end of 2018, it will make curriculum ready to share through its website as well. source: Climate Caravan