Story competition challenges teens to profile people saving the planet

Story competition challenges teens to profile people saving the planet

Winners of a worldwide competition will get cash prizes as well as coaching from News Decoder and publication on the News Decoder site. Announcing the Climate Champion Profiles storytelling competition Teenage journalists worldwide are invited to profile someone who...

News Decoder is a member of a consortium of organizations implementing a multifaceted project to engage youth with climate change issues and actions. In this article, News Decoder Adviser Aralynn Abare McMane invites high school students across the world to identify and interview someone in their community working to solve the climate crisis in a significant way, then write an article or produce a video or podcast about that person for submission to a worldwide contest.

Exercise: Find an individual in your community who is trying to fight climate change in a real way. Have students research that person by looking up relevant websites and reading any news articles that have been done or watching any videos that feature that person. Then invite the person to talk to your class and have students prepare questions they would need answered in order to write a profile of that person. Have each student write a profile and submit the best one to the The Writing’s on the Wall Climate Champions Storytelling Competition. 

Listen: There’s no Plan B if our friends the bees perish

Listen: There’s no Plan B if our friends the bees perish

Some consider them a nuisance, but bees are critically important. Our podcast, “Plan Bee,” explains how climate change and humans put bees at risk. News Decoder · There's no Plan Bee if our friends the bees perish Bees are a vital part of our...

Climate change is affecting our planet in so many ways that the disruptions can feel overwhelming. Two students at the European School Brussels II train their sights on bees, which play a critical role in protecting our environment. In their 10-minute podcast, Isabel Fontan Ireland and Oliver Sanchez de Leon Tuomi explain why we all should fret over the fate of bees. Their conversation is an excellent example for students interested in audio as a platform for expression.

Exercise: Divide your students into teams of two and have them record a five-minute conversation about a complicated topic that they have researched. The challenge is to make it simple, understandable and engaging.

Listen: We need laws, not just personal acts, to save Earth

Listen: We need laws, not just personal acts, to save Earth

Individual acts to shrink our carbon footprint are fine. But to prevent a climate disaster on Earth, governments must pass laws to cut carbon emissions. News Decoder · The Great Acceleration The numbers are shocking. In just seven decades, our population has more than...

In this podcast, three students from the European School of Brussels II argue that individual acts to shrink our carbon footprint are fine, but governments must pass laws to cut carbon emissions to prevent a climate catastrophe. Gustav Paulander, Henrik Skaringer and Thomas Winship examine “The Great Acceleration” – the dramatic surge in growth across a large range of measures of human activity since the mid-20th Century – and what it implies for our planet’s future.

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