Parks Climate Challenge
Parks Climate Challenge trains high school aged leaders in the science and effects of climate change through an immersion experience in national parks. These young leaders take what they learn in the parks and apply that to their own communities, beginning a ripple effect of learning and enthusiasm for our national parks.
A website will also be launched this summer to provide teachers the necessary resources to be successful in delivering national park centric climate change lessons. The following institutes are holding trainings in 2011:
- Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC http://www.gsmit.org/
- Headlands Institute, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, CA http://www.naturebridge.org/headlands
- Will Steger Foundation, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, MS http://www.willstegerfoundation.org
- North Cascades Institute, North Cascades National Park, WA http://ncascades.org
This program was made possible through the generous support of The UPS Foundation, GE Foundation, Inner Spark Foundation, and The Fernandez Pave the Way Foundation.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
In its inaugural year, twenty high school youth from five cities – Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, DC – traveled to North Cascades National Park in Washington state to participate in a one-month experiential education program conducted by the North Cascades Institute in partnership with the park. The students completed service learning projects in order to deepen the experience and develop their sense of appreciation.
A month after leaving North Cascades, these young leaders will traveled to Washington, DC to learn from experts in climate change and community organizing and leaders of federal agencies involved in addressing climate change, primarily the National Park Service. These meetings solidified their experience at North Cascades and allow them time to develop a solid plan for a service project addressing climate change in their local community. Finally, the twenty leaders hosted a service project on the National Mall for high school and elementary aged youth from Washington, DC.
Upon returning to their homes across the nation, the high school students will visit regularly with an elementary school class to share their experience and teach them about climate change, energy conservation, and national parks.
To help Parks Climate Challenge and other programs, you can support the National Park Foundation by clicking here.
