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Climate Action Campus

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‘Coo, coo, cool!’, as my kererū pigeon friends would say! What better place to learn about the changing climate than a former school. 

 

If you’ve made your way here – to this site bordered by Cowlishaw St and Avonside Drive – you’re next to what used to be Avonside Girls’ High School. (The new school site is at 209 Travis Road) Learning still continues here, but in a different context.

Climate Action Campus is a student-oriented hub dedicated to understanding, and taking action on, climate change. It’s the first of its kind in Aotearoa New Zealand.

 

Spearheaded by former Christchurch Mayor, Vicki Buck, the campus is designed to bring about positive environmental change. Students have the opportunity to contribute their insights to what the United Nations regards as the “defining issue of our time”. About 50 schools have accessed the site to date.

 

The campus offers a range of ways for primary and secondary students to expand their curriculum-based learning and/or to engage in real-world discoveries and projects. On-site resources – including a technology hub and horticulture spaces – and relevant experts are made available to students. Creative and innovative approaches to planning, decision-making and action are encouraged. Definitely cool, don’t you think?

You might want to follow me along the campus boundary. A total of about 6 hectares (including leased land adjacent to the former high school) have been incorporated into the innovative space you see evolving here. What do you notice apart from gardens and buildings? Bee hives? Community offices for a range of community and environmental groups? A native butterfly garden?

 

 

 

Food for thought:

How do places such as Climate Action Campus help instil a sense of optimism or hope for the future?

How might the students’ learnings and discoveries contribute to improving the wellbeing of the city and its inhabitants (human, bird, plants and animal)? 

What might the campus contribute to future generations?

 

 

 

Links:

United Nations’ brief explanation of climate change

https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/what-is-climate-change

 

Get involved with Climate Action Campus 

https://www.facebook.com/ClimateActionCampus/

 

More campus info

https://climateaction.school.nz/ 

Te Ao Māori context: https://climateaction.school.nz/place/cultural-narrative/