WIlson's Climate Change Reflections 3/18/22

Our Voices - Our Resilient Community

Wilson Middle School:
7th Grade 2022

Ocean Discovery Institute:
Young Lives Transformed Through Science

To inspire the next generation of science leaders, Ocean Discovery Institute creates learning experiences for young people traditionally excluded from science due to race, income status, and educational opportunity. Our students will join high-paying fields, break generational poverty, and change the future of science.

Our In-School Programs provide early, continued exposure to science for all Kinder through 8th grade City Heights students in the Hoover High Cluster. The program design uses ocean science as a platform to spark interest in science and empower students to make a difference. Students come away with the belief that science is something they can do and that a scientist is someone they can be.

7th Grade Reflections

This book is meant to capture and amplify the voices of 7th grade students participating in the Ocean Discovery In-School Program.

During their experience, students learn about the causes of climate change and its impacts on both a global and local scale. They learn that their own community of City Heights contributes to climate change and that communities like their own can experience severe impacts.

Students reflect on the idea that while it is important for all people to work together to solve climate change, we can all contribute in our own unique way, and create empathy by sharing their personal perspectives and experiences.

And so the students created the reflections found in this book. They shared thoughts on how climate change is impacting them, their communities, and how we can help reduce climate change.

Through this experience, the students’ voices give them power as they tell their own stories.

Making A Difference At Ocean Discovery Institute

During their day at the Living Lab, students 1) explores how the lab was designed as a sustainable building to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, 2) became green building designers and designed a school of the future to help combat climate change, and 3) shared their story of climate change with teachers, parents, peers, and local stakeholders and policymakers through the creation of an online newspaper.

Students also met a scientist who shared their career pathway, and challenges and obstacles they have faced along the way to becoming a science leader. Collectively, these experiences build students’ belief that they can recognize and do science, science is important and relevant, that a career in science is a possibility for them, and that they can make a difference in the world.

A student uses a thermometer to measure the heat of various surfaces and observes the natural cooling effect of shade - reducing our reliance on air conditioning and its associated CO2 emissions.

Student Voices

On the following pages are the thoughts of the students at Wilson Middle School, sharing their perspective on climate change.

Mr. Lu - Period 2

Learning about can help us in the future and now in the present, because when changes happen we know how to confront them and what to do when they happen. Like right now, we have too much CO2 which makes the world hot so were trying to plant more trees to turn the CO2 into oxygen and use less gas and electricity because they make CO2 and we use a lot of it because of more technology that comes with time. – Yordi

To help fight climate change, we could save energy by taking short showers and not wasting water. – Darnell

Something that surprised me about building a green school was how expensive everything was. – Nailea

I like the plants around the Living Lab and how they grow. – Axul

Something that I found challenging about building a green school was working with people that didn’t agree with me. The prices of both the mandatory and optional items were really expensive. To fight climate change, we could make sure to recycle and make sure that our trash is inside of the bin and not falling out of the bins. – Danity

In the future, science with probably get better to where people in the future could know what to do and what to stop doing and stop littering. – Jerryohn

Climate changed has increased the temperature during the summer in City Heights .You never know what kind of weather you’ll get, for one week it could be raining the next it could be over 90 degrees. – Cristina

Ocean Discovery has taught me that if you have the right amount of money you can be eco-friendly too! Ocean Discovery has solar panels, LED lights, and doesn't use air conditioning and all of that is eco-friendly. I have seen or noticed climate change here in City Heights like how in winter instead of being cold its hot. Climate change is very harmful for our Earth. – Ashley

The actions we can take to fight climate change is to stop using so much fossil fuels, electricity cars, phones, factories, buildings and start using more solar energy. – Anonymous

To fight climate change, we can live on Mars or live underwater. Not too deep nor too shallow. – Angel

Mr. Lu - Period 2

The most challenging thing about designing a Green School was deciding what to buy. – Lindsey

Something I would tell my community is to throw trash away in the correct container, and that it’s going to get a lot hotter in City Heights. – Sean

From what I learned from today about Climate Change, I could start taking short showers to save energy and also we could turn off the lights when we are not using them so we could save energy. – Giselle

Learning about climate change today can help us change bad habits that we may have into good habits to help save our future. From what we learned today about climate change, I will help reduce the amount of electricity I use and take advantage of natural sources to help make a difference in my community. – Melanie

I think that in 5 years from now climate change will be better because there’s more people to fix our community. – Natalie

Something we could do to fight climate change is use less cars and use bikes instead, because cars pollute the air and can affect a climate change negatively. – Anonymous

In Ocean Discovery I learned that when you build a Green Building, the challenging part is staying in your budget. – Edith

I found the Living Lab interesting because it had earth friendly things, for example fans, lights and more. We students can help the earth by using less electricity and buying earth friendly things in our school. – Ileana

To fight climate change, we can use energy smarter and doing small acts to save and conserve energy. - Phuong

Building a green school was stressful because of how expensive everything was. – Mia