October 20th, 2017
Saga Rut Sunnevudóttir and Bríet Felixdóttir, two participants in the I SEE summer school, were chosen to be the voice of the young generation at the recent Environmental Summit in Reykjavík, Iceland on 20 October 2017, hosted by the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources. It is held every other year and always has a focus topic that is a current priority for the ministry so the topic this year was climate change.
We’re all so proud of them and we really wanted to share their words with you all. Their speech was about their perspective on the environment and their experience at I SEE, so you might find it especially interesting. In their discourse, they said that the current and usual discourse on climate change emphasizes fear and doom, leaving young people scared and hopeless for the future. They spoke of the urgent need for climate change education in schools and of emphasis on what can be done to prevent climate degradation.
Saga and Bríet did an amazing job and have gotten a lot of attention, they’ve been on the national radio, television stations (http://ruv.is/sarpurinn/ras-1/mannlegi-thatturinn/20171018, http://www.ruv.is/frett/ekki-hraeda-heldur-fraeda), kids’ news program, and have been asked to come on another television program soon.
Moreover, a politician who is running in the upcoming elections refers to them in her platform for climate change education!
Inspired by the I SEE experience, they also started a petition directed to the Ministry for Culture and Education and the Ministry for the Environment and Natural Resources (to be elected soon) to prioritize environmental education in their policies and curricula.
Everybody can sign it here even if can’t read the Icelandic: https://www.petitions24.com/askorun_til_stjornvalda_um_eflingu_umhverfisfraslu_a_ollum_mennta
