Teach-In Climate and Justice Event involving St. Anthony’s Secondary School, Tawfeequllahi Islamic Academy, Faith Academy, Awonga High School, and Government Day Secondary School, all in Kwara State, Nigeria.  

 

This Teach-In Event hosted 100 students, 9 staff and 11 guests in attendance from all the schools involved.  

There were three breakout sessions, which were engaging and educative.   

For the first break out session, the students were given topics to discuss in their various groups and each group was provided with cardboards and markers to write their group discussions. 

Group 1 was given Solar Power as their topic, according to the students, they stated that Solar Power was first used in 7th century B.C, then it was officially discovered by Alexandre Edmond in the year 1839. The students also came up with facts about Solar Energy like; it is the most abundant source of energy, it is a free energy and a renewable energy, it produces no pollution, it improves world health, it does not affect climate change, it gets its power from the sun. 

The second group was given the topic, “Reducing Food Waste” and the students were able to came up with these points from their discussion; excess food can be used as manure to improve soil fertility instead of wasting the food. Food preservation is another way to reduce food waste, also people should be advised to cook the quantity of food that will be enough for the family without excess that will later waste. Excess food should be given to the needy and homeless. 

“Local Actions – what is happening in your community and how students can be involved” was the topic given to group 3, the students were able to discuss together and agree on the following local actions: 

  • Burning of fossils; this can be discouraged through public awareness programs 
  • Deforestation; discouraging the habit of felling of trees by the community people without planting trees to replace the one that was felled, the students used Abuja as an example where people planted three trees for every single tree felled. 
  • Erosion; this can be solved by making a proper drainage. 

Group 4’s discussion was on Electric Cars and Trucks and the students had a wonderful session and wrote this about electric cars and trucks: electric cars and trucks give out no dangerous carbon. It does not give out smokes that can be dangerous to our ozone layer that cause global warming which is dangerous to human health. 

Group 5 discussion was on “Story Telling and Climate Communication”, the group was first taught the basics of storytelling and climate communication, and importance of telling climate change story. The students told the story of flood as one of the effects of climate change using the last year incident in Ilorin where schools were flooded and prevented children from attending schools for weeks.  

“Protecting the Forest” was the topic for Group 6 and the group members were able to came up with ways of protecting the forest, which are: 

  • Discouragement of deforestation 
  • Encouragement of afforestation 
  • Conservation of forest and its resources 
  • Public enlightenment on effects of deforestation 
  • Forest management – rules and regulation by the government 

The last group, Group 7 was also tasked to discuss “Local Actions – what is happening in your community and how students can be involved”. The students were able to come up with four actions they can get involved with, which are: 

  • Advocating against deforestation 
  • Avoiding outdoor refuse burning 
  • Avoidance of water pollution 
  • Prevention of bush burning 

 

For the second breakout session, the students were asked the same question across all the seven groups which was for them to “Identify climatic problems in their schools and communities, and collectively find solutions to the identified problems. 

 

 

Group 1 was able to identify global warming, carbon offset, erosion and depletion of ozone layer as the climate change problems in their schools and communities. They were able to come up with solutions to the problems such as;  

  • Encouraging afforestation 
  • Stopping burning of fossils fuels, and bushes in the schools and communities. 

 

Group 2 identified problems were; erosion, bush burning/waste, deforestation, disposal of waste into drainage, inadequate refuse bins and global warming. The group was able to come up with these solutions;  

  • Recycling of waste products. 
  • Planting of trees  
  • Sanitation consciousness 
  • Provision of more refuse bins and  
  • Carbon off-set. 

 

For group 3, their identified problems were; burning of refuse, erosion, lack of electricity, lack of water supply and lack of toilets in schools. They were able to come up with these solutions;  

  • Recycling and public enlightenment.  
  • Clearing of drainage and blocked incorrect water channels. 
  • Provision of pipe borne water for schools and communities. 
  • Provision of toilets in schools for the students. 

 

Identified problems from group 4 were; erosion, insufficient green environment, refuse burning, deforestation, pollution, flooding and insufficient drainage systems. The group was able to provide solutions to the identified problems, which were; 

  • Proper drainage system 
  • Afforestation 
  • Public enlightenment 
  • Proper dumping of refuse 

 

Group 5 identified problems in their schools and communities which were; erosion, deforestation and burning of refuse. They were able to come up with these solutions; 

  • Provision of drainage system 
  • Enlightening the public on the effect of erosion 
  • Afforestation 
  • Government should make law that prohibit indiscriminate cutting down of trees 
  • Public enlightenment 
  • Recycling should be encouraged. 

 

Group 6 was able to identified two problems, which were; erosion, and bush and refuse burning. The solution provided by the group were; 

  • Recycling of refuse. 
  • Provision of incinerators. 
  • Public enlightenment on the effect of bush burning. 
  • Planting of trees. 
  • Provision and construction of drainage. 
  • Reduction of packing of sands for construction. 

 

Group 7 problem identification was different from the other groups, which were erosion, wastage (dumping of refuse), rise in weather temperature, wind and shortage of food. Their solutions for the problems were; 

  • Proper recycling. 
  • Planting of trees to provide shade and fresh air. 

 

The third session was a panel session, coordinated by Olaide OLAWUWO with two (female and male) students each from the five participating schools.  

Each school responded to questions relating to their learning environment within the context of sustainable development goal (SDG) four – quality education; climate action to their environment; renewable energy and its effect on taking action as climate champions.  

 

Participants also chose any sustainable development goals (SDGs) and shared thoughts on climate effect, as well as discussed the roles of climate change champions in taking action for better world.