Tim Coxon, Principal Lecturer in the School of Education, is now an eduCCateGlobal™ Climate Change Teacher after undertaking five mandatory training courses.
He achieved the status – accredited by UN CC:Learn in Partnership with Harwood Education – upon the completion of the UN courses, entitled: Children and climate change; human health and climate change; cities and climate change; gender and environment and international legal regime of climate change.
Initially, Tim will draw on this training in his work with the university’s BA Primary Teacher Training students.
Tim said: “We know that climate change is the biggest existential threat to humanity and life on this planet and that efforts to curb greenhouse gasses thus far are nowhere near enough to reverse global heating nor meet the 2015 Paris Agreement.
“The climate change teacher accreditation from the UN has helped me to more fully appreciate the scale of this crisis and the impact that global heating will have.”
Tim added that the process of gaining the accreditation has connected him with a network of other climate change teachers across the world, all of whom are educating children on the effects of climate change, as well as engaging in action to mitigate to global heating and adapting to a “rapidly changing planet”.
He said: “We are all affected by climate change but it is children and young people who will suffer the most over the coming century and teachers have a crucial role to play in supporting them as they face this challenge.
“I hope that in some small way I can work with colleagues and students to find ways of providing this support as well as encouraging all to take those actions we know have significant impact on our own carbon footprints.”