by Niki Woodard & Amy Jolly | February 10, 2016
Korean educator Dr. Choi of Gwangju National University of
Education wants to see Korean youth more engaged in the fight against climate
change. In searching the internet for strategies and activities to engage youth
in climate action, he found The Climate Center’s ECO2school
program. According to Dr. Choi, “The Center is very well-known in
Korea.”
But Dr. Choi went further with his investigation, thousands of miles further.
On February 4, after months of correspondence, Dr. Choi and his daughter Hanna Choi (who translated the conversations) traveled to Santa Rosa, CA. They sat down with our ECO2school team to learn more about our program
and how to successfully build a movement of youth leaders for climate action.
Dr. Choi has an influential job as an educator: he trains
teachers. His goal is to present a carefully curated toolkit of ideas and activities
to Korean teachers so that they can easily incorporate climate action into their curriculum and classroom
activities. Korean culture doesn’t currently encourage students to
volunteer for causes and he wants to change this, with climate action as the
leading cause.
Inspired by our program’s ability to grow student
participation in climate action, Dr. Choi will be translating the ECO2school
manual into Korean.
“I’m so pleased to know that our work is having such an
impact, not only locally, but globally,” said Amy Jolly, Program Manager
for the Center’s youth leadership program, ECO2school. “Knowing that we have allies across
countries and oceans, makes me hopeful that we are turning the tide in global attitudes
about climate change. We’re on the cusp, riding a wave with infinite potential.
Meeting with Dr. Choi and seeing his passion – that he would take the time away
from his vacation to build a relationship with us – makes me very hopeful for
the future.”
Dr. Choi looks forward to continuing to build the
relationship between ECO2school and Korean youth. He hopes to send one of his
teachers to attend a training workshop focused on ECO2school program
design and implementation.