Education and Climate Justice
Irish Primary Principals’ Network Annual Principals’ Conference
That was the message delivered by Mary Robinson in a keynote address to the Irish Primary Principals’ Network’s Annual Principals’ Conference in Dublin on 27 January 2012. Mrs Robinson challenged the over 1000 assembled Principals, drawn from primary schools across Ireland, to find a space for climate justice education in the primary school curriculum.
Mrs Robinson introduced the primary Principals to MRFCJ’s work and progress on these issues at last month’s COP17 negotiations in Durban.
Referring to the intergenerational dimensions of climate change, Mrs Robinson asked why the burden of unmanageable climate change should fall on future generations when today, in 2012, we know what the consequences of our inaction will be.
She warned of the need to begin imagining a future for the 9 billion people who will live on this planet in 2050.
In closing Mrs Robinson reminded the audience of the power of education and MRFCJ’s commitment to “harness the transformative power of education for climate stewardship”. She said that “children are important agents of change” and want to be involved in the decision-making process.
She encouraged the Principals to begin a conversation about climate justice in their staffrooms and classrooms that focused on ‘the rights and needs of the most vulnerable’.
Related:
We go Eco and No Thanks films - by primary school students
