Have you heard about the recent school climate strikes through the news, Twitter, or Instagram? In the last month alone, 1.6 million students around the world have participated in Friday demonstrations instead of attending school, demanding government action on climate change.
This movement was started by Greta Thunberg, a sixteen-year-old student who sat outside the Swedish parliament every Friday to call for the reduction of carbon emissions.
Fridays for Future
Since the beginning of the “Fridays for Future” movement in August 2018, hundreds of thousands of students across all continents have left their classrooms and joined the climate march. At the same time, some people have been claiming that it “promotes truancy,” and that students should be back at school.
Greta responds to this in an interview with the Guardian: “They are desperately trying to change the subject whenever the school strikes come up. They know they can’t win this fight because they haven’t done anything.”
With worsening climate destruction, students are choosing to put their grades at stake to fight for their own future. Many see this as an act of defiance, as they feel it is pointless to study when their future is being torn down in front of their eyes. “Some people say that we are fighting for our future. But that is not true […] We are fighting for everyone’s future,” says Greta.
Climate Change in Romania
There is evidence that proves that the climate in Romania is changing. In 2005, Romania was hit by a massive flood that resulted in 31 deaths. Two years later, the country experienced the most severe drought in the last 60 years, and recorded the highest average temperature in past two decades.
Meanwhile, Romania is a signatory of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The country is also a member of the EU, who have set targets to generate 20% of their energy from renewables sources. As a result, the CO2 emission per capita has been on a constant decrease since 1997, with 3.98 metric tons in 2019.
Although this shows that Romania has been investing some efforts to tackle climate change, the reduction rate is minimal and the EU remains far from achieving their 2020 target.
Reducing Climate Change at AISB
The student-led Eco Council has taken many actions to minimize our school’s environmental impact in the past year.
A few months ago, AISB adopted the Environmental Policy which addresses its objectives regarding the management of plastic, food, and paper waste – as well as the promotion of environment-related programs at the school.
AISB has also become more energy conscious; for example, most of the traditional incandescent lighting in the secondary building have been replaced with more energy-efficient LED light bulbs.
The new Early Learning Center also runs solely on solar panels. Eco Council leader Marion Siekierski explains, “This system generates energy for the entire ELC building, but also for the other buildings if they have access to the ‘grid’ (photovoltaic panels).”
Siekierski is overall satisfied with the progress that our school has made in the past years, and notes particular admiration for the new Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS DP . “I’m happy that the school is running the environmental systems and societies (ESS) DP science course. It just started this year, and I think it is running in the right direction.”
To move forward, Siekierski believes the school should further strengthen the environmental curriculum that looks at ways and mechanisms we can deal with climate change as members of society.
What will you do to stop climate change? Share your ideas in the comments below.
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This is great!! It is interesting and an easy read. Thank you for bringing awarenesses to this really important cause.
Beautiful article Kristina! Well structured, illustrated and interesting as well. Loved reading it!
Wonderful piece, Kristina! This is such an important issue, and one that dominates topics and discussions in Humanities and DP Geography. Happy to see you writing about it on The Bite.
Bravo!
Mrs. Whitney
Amazing article Kristie! I think we can become greener here at AISB. I’m just sad there aren’t many Romanian students that have adopted Fridays for the Future.
This is a very good article! I love how people in romania are actually starting to protest and being aware of what’s happening. I feel like your information helps in gaining awareness in the AISB community as many people from AISB are starting to protest. This is an important issue. Good job in structuring and adding pictures and information, very detailed.
This is a very interesting article. I never really thought of climate change too much until the protests began. The facts in the article are laid out very well and inspire me to try and rally as well. I didn’t know how bad the climate change is here in Romania and I’m extremely happy that our school has been able to take action.
I really liked the gifs and images. Good job Kristie!
I really like this article, great job! I think it is very important to be aware of important things around us, and having people take action is already a big step.
I’m glad awareness is being spread, and things are being done for the better.
I love how you narrow down the subject matter as the article progresses. This was really effective as it captured my attention, displaying the scope of the issue and convincing me of its validity. Once I was hooked, the article goes on to say how this is relevant to the reader (an AISB student). Well attuned to the audience, I especially enjoy the thoughtful use ending, explaining practical ways community members have confronted this issue. This naturally leads my train of thought to the final question, the main takeaway: What will I do to stop climate change?. This is great. Empowered to follow my curiosity, I will happily make use of the given links to learn more about this topic.
If we are ever going to change, climate change needs to be talked about more often. This worldwide issue transcends borders and applies to anyone who lives life on this earth. Thank you for addressing this topic that desperately needs attention.
I was quite ignorant of the ways Romania is helping climate change and the environment, indifferent that I am Romanian and have been living here my whole life. Likewise, I didn’t know about the changes the school has made in order to help the environment, even though I come here everyday. I now view the climate change issue as something addressed globally, therefor understanding that the problem is of great importance and that I should make changes in my life and the choices I make. Thank you for this article!
I really like this article and I was unaware of the consequence climate change is having on Romania. This is why we should take action against climate change. Aisb has started to take steps towards a less harmful but there is still a long way to go to make are school perfect. Thank you for writing this article and informing me on climate change.
This article is written in such a way that captivates the reader’s attention all throughout- it’s extremely well done! Climate change is such an important issue in today’s society and we should all educate ourselves more on this topic- everyone can make an impact, whether that is good or bad. Thank you so much for writing this piece!
We are studying, learning, developing. We go to school. We are working hard. If we don’t have a safe future, what are all these going to do? Climate change is an important issue that concerns whole world. I liked your article, thank you for writing this meaningful article!
I really like the way this article brings awareness to the situation and shows the gravity of it. It is backed up with facts which means we can count on it to be reliable. I think that AISB should be a model in term of reducing carbon emissions with our values as a community. I agree that more education should be done at school to students about climate change. It would encourage students to take action and bring change.
I was never aware of the problems around climate change in Romania and I am excited to hear our community is doing something about this. this article clearly shows that AISB is doing well but that more needs to be done in Romania around climate change if we want to have a bright and safe future. This is a great article, thank you!
You can tell that a lot of time and research was put into this, you can sense the passion coming from the author along with how important the message you’re trying to send really is. The article is narrowed down to specific groups and themes and really captures the reader’s attention. I love how you used the ending as an overall summary and left us to really rethink our choices in life. I think this article really helps with influencing the youth, having a student like yourself stand up and speak up for our community really puts us in a position where we have to start taking action and finding our role in our community. So THANK YOU, and please keep doing what you’re doing.
This article was well researched and I could tell that you were really interested in saving the environment. Thank you for taking action and representing an issue that needs to be attended to. I wasn’t aware of how bad climate change is in Romania. Thank you for informing me about this problem and your article was well written.
Thank you for writing this article and I hope it can change some things in our community!