The very nature of the phrase, ‘Global Warming,’ makes it sound like an insurmountable problem that little ol’ me and little ol’ you could never hope to solve on our own. After all, the globe is a pretty big place, and to address an issue that covers the entirety of it seems well out of the scope of our private little bubbles. Nevertheless, if this problem is ever to be resolved, or even confronted, we must not get bogged down in the enormity of the planet as a whole.
To look at a landfill, you don’t see one large mass of trash, but a collection of singular objects that all come together and effectively become that mass of trash. Thus, it follows that we do in fact bear individual responsibility for each piece of waste that ends up there. And so it is that through a coordinated effort of personal and peer accountability, we can make small changes that ultimately add up to a big impact.
In an effort to illustrate this fact, in a very real and concrete way, 3006 students across six different campuses within the Dulwich College International (DCI) network teamed up to win — that’s right, win! — a Guinness World Record title for “Largest Environmental Sustainability Lesson (multiple venues)”.
On October 30, students from Dulwich College Shanghai, Dulwich College Beijing, Dulwich College Suzhou, Dulwich International High School Suzhou, Dehong Beijing, and Dehong Shanghai, packed into their respective auditoriums and gyms, equipped with live streams of the other schools, to partake in a lesson, Living a Sustainable Lifestyle, which “demonstrated the importance of environmental protection and conveyed the message that each person can and should effect tangible positive change.”
For their part, Dulwich College Beijing (DCB) had more than 1000 students from Years 3 to 11 occupying the Wodehouse and Edward Alleyn Theatres, as well as the Sports Hall.
The lesson, which was co-developed by students and faculty alike, operated much the same way any other classroom would, albeit this one was much larger. Nevertheless, it kicked off with a small introduction to the idea of sustainability followed by a video of famed documentarian, Sir David Attenborough, explaining the power of individual, sustainable acts, and ended with some small and large group discussions which urged the kids to make “sustainability pledges,” or those choices that the students and their teachers could work into their everyday lives to lessen their carbon footprints.
All of this was conducted using a website that was designed and developed by Isaac L., a Year 11 student at DCB. In a press release about the event, Isaac L. said that his “previous experiences of being the main web developer at HackDulwich, DCI’s hackathon, provided me with the opportunity and confidence to now be on the web development team of the homepage of the Largest Environmental Sustainability Lesson.” He continued, “I love using the skills I’ve learnt to bridge my passions for STEAM and web development with an initiative that brings attention to the climate crisis, a massive problem facing our species.”
The lesson culminated in the launch of “Sustainable November,” a month-long campaign that challenges sustainable living across DCI schools. In effect, “Students, staff and parents are encouraged to stay committed to the pledges they made as part of the lesson and support one another in building habits to make tangible and permanent change.”
Photos: Pixabay, courtesy of Dulwich College Beijing
