Space Summary
The Twitter Space OPEN FORUM: Let’s Talk Politics; Nov. 5th; Nutrition; Eyes … etc. hosted by FrankMikeDavis1. The open forum space blends a myriad of topics from politics to nutrition, fostering inclusivity and advocacy for diverse voices. Hosted weekly, the discussions promote dialogue on Democratic values, social justice, and marginalized communities. Through an inclusive environment, the space amplifies voices from feminist, LGBTQIA+, BLM, and Native communities, while also engaging with issues like health, history, genealogy, and more. Encouraging education and awareness, the space serves as a platform for supportive conversations and community building.
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Space Statistics
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Questions
Q: What topics are typically covered in the space?
A: Politics, nutrition, social justice, history, genealogy, DNA, feminist/LGBTQIA+/BLM/Native issues, and more.
Q: How often is the space hosted?
A: It is hosted weekly, providing a consistent platform for discussions.
Q: What values are advocated for in the space?
A: Democratic values, inclusivity, social justice, progressivism, and support for marginalized communities.
Q: What is the role of the host in shaping conversations?
A: The host fosters an environment that encourages diverse voices, education, awareness, and respectful discussions.
Q: How is diversity represented in the space?
A: The space embraces diversity through engagement with various topics and voices, including those from feminist, LGBTQIA+, BLM, and Native communities.
Q: How are inclusive spaces important for societal dialogue?
A: Inclusive spaces allow for the exchange of ideas, promotion of awareness, and support for social causes, fostering a sense of community and understanding.
Highlights
Time: 00:15:28
Open Dialogues on Politics Engaging conversations on political matters and Democratic values within the space.
Time: 00:30:45
Nutrition and Health Discussions Exploring topics related to nutrition and health as part of the holistic conversation.
Time: 00:45:12
Embracing Social Justice Advocacy Support for social justice movements and marginalized communities at the core of discussions.
Time: 01:00:03
Intersections of History and Genealogy Unpacking historical narratives and genealogical inquiries amidst broader conversations.
Time: 01:15:29
Inclusivity Towards Diverse Communities Celebrating and amplifying voices from feminist, LGBTQIA+, BLM, and Native communities within the space.
Time: 01:30:58
Balancing Professions and Passions Navigating discussions ranging from animal rescue to legal matters and spiritual guidance.
Time: 01:45:21
Promoting Education and Awareness Encouraging learning, awareness, and education on various important topics in a supportive environment.
Time: 02:00:17
Weekly Engagement and Community Building Building a community through regular hosting, engagement, and advocacy for diverse voices.
Time: 02:15:40
Supporting Progressive Movements Advocating for progressivism, inclusivity, and support for marginalized communities in societal dialogues.
Time: 02:30:59
Fostering Dialogue and Understanding Creating spaces for respectful and informative conversations to promote dialogue and understanding amongst participants.
Key Takeaways
- Diverse range of topics discussed including politics, nutrition, and social justice.
- Advocacy for Democratic values and inclusivity is central to the space.
- Weekly hosting of the space promotes regular engagement and community building.
- Encouragement of discussions on progressive movements and marginalized communities.
- Exploration of history, genealogy, and DNA alongside political and social issues.
- Inclusivity towards feminist, LGBTQIA+, BLM, and Native communities in the space.
- Intersection of animal rescue, eye care, legal matters, and spiritual guidance.
- Engagement with diverse voices and perspectives on multiple subjects.
- Promotion of awareness and education on a wide array of important topics.
- Celebration of diversity, advocacy, and knowledge exchange in a supportive environment.
Behind the Mic
Introduction and Confirmation
It. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Jane, before I speak further, can you kindly confirm if you can hear me? Hi. Yes, I can hear you. Good evening. Good evening. How are you doing? Thank you. How about you? I'm fine, thank you. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. You're welcome to these x spaces brought to you by partnership between the cable and in Google collective. My name is Jemilat Nasiru and I'll be co moderating this conversation today alongside my colleague, Jane Francis. Today is Saturday the 28 September 2024, and today we are talking climate education and the need to ensure that we take climate education to the secondary school level and with the hope of grooming a set of future leaders that are climate conscious. And we've got some experts. We've invited some guest speakers today that will be, you know, dealing with,
Technical Issues and Guest Introductions
Okay, you can't hear me anymore. Yes, you are audible. Oh, okay. Maybe your problem is from Jane Francis. All right, thank you very much. We've got. Sorry for that breaking transmission. We've got Idowu Ayole. I hope I pronounced that correctly. He's a climate change activist and advocate. He's a change leader with Ngu collective. Sorry, Idowu Ayole, MBd. And we also have Emmanuel Kilaso. He's a foremost climate education expert. I. And he's the executive director of Secure Cycle Environmental and Climate Change Initiative, to speak with us today, this evening, enlightening us about the importance of climate education, especially in the Nigerian context where we are dealing with and living with as well, the adverse climate challenges that there are. So we just start with an introductory question that would help us familiarize with our guest speakers. I'll start with first, good evening. Thank you very much for agreeing to do this with us. What is your summary of the climate situation in Nigeria generally?
Overview of Climate Situation in Nigeria
Okay, thank you very much for inviting me to this discussion. Am I audible? Yes, we can hear you. Yeah, I appreciate. So, my name is Idu. Why? Oli? So, as you have rightly said, I mean, climate change educators and activists. So, the question you asked is the situation of climate change in Nigeria, am I right? Yes. Yes, sir. Good, good. Thank you. So, yes, climate change in Nigeria is a reality. No? Some people still believe that it is real. It is not real, but I'd like to tell you this evening that it is a reality. So, we have seen effects in everywhere. Every day we watch television, we see different kind of flood, see its waves, see effects in any food security see effects in every sphere of Nigeria. So climate change is a reality and it has come to stay until we have some mitigating factor to reduce it to stay with us. Thank you. Thank you very much Mister Kilaso, I hope I pronounced your name correctly as well. Good to have you join us. If you could please also give a brief overview of the climate situation in Nigeria.
Further Discussion on Climate Communication
Yes, thank you so much. It's a privilege to be here with every one of us. Climate situation in Nigeria, just like my colleague has actually said. Mister Idowu, it's a pleasure to be doing this with you as well. There's no doubt about it's a reality. And I think it's something that every one of us need to start to take action right away. I mean, just as you're having this meeting right now, its course for action. Thank you. Thank you very much. Quickly. Yeah, go ahead please. Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, I was going to ask Mister Kilasu, being that he has an organization which champions climate education, especially in schools, I was going to ask him how important is it to take this climate education to schools to enlighten the youth about the whole climate education? Because presently in Nigeria we get to see a lot of people in climate denier. So how important is it to take this climate education to school?
Importance of Climate Education
All right, thank you so much Jane. So let me start from the aspect of education. For you to be able to solve any problem or any challenge at your reach. One major thing you need to do is to educate yourself about that challenge so that you know the right action for you to take going back to sustainable development goals. Goal four is a goal that talks about quality education and it's also a goal, you know, that speaks about not leaving anyone behind. So when you look at the concept of sustainability in a true self, the definition of sustainable development talks about you meeting your own immediate needs. Me just putting it in a layman's term, you meeting your own immediate needs without infringing or disenfranchising future generations from accessing the opportunities that they need to access, either be it in the area of mineral resources, either being in the area of economic importance, of social justice and what have you. So taking climate education to school is something very important. So for example, let me give you a scenario that happens while I was still teaching in a school.
Experiential Learning and Climate Awareness
And this school happened to be an underserved school. So at a particular time I taught my students about the challenge of littering the whole community with pet bottles, right. And one of these days were to go to school very early in the morning and it rained. It rained around four to five. So by the time students are coming to school, a lot of drainages have been flooded. And I had one of these, Mylenna's who came to school to tell me that a community where she passed while coming to school, the drainage has been blocked with pet bottles and the waters are flowing all over the road. So this particular girl was telling me that we should go immediately to take away those pet bottles that has actually blocked the drainage. Right. That's to tell you the kind of urgency just basically because this learner has an understanding, right, of the impact of improper waste management, right. Which is also one of the causes of climate change within our sector. So you know, taking this knowledge to children, right, it's very important.
Youth Engagement in Climate Initiatives
And if you look at Nigerian statistics right now, you realize that young people are like the most populous within the country. So if we really want to see change within our society, then it means that we need to start to educate that population effectively and in large numbers so that every one of us can start to take action and we can have a better society. Thank you. All right. The fact that everybody needs to get into action and fight the climate crisis. Mister Dubo, I'm going to point the light to you. I would like to find out away from just taking the climate education to schools, do you think Nigeria as a country needs to, you know, incorporate climate education in our school curriculum? Do you think it's something that we should actually look into?
Incorporating Climate Education in Curriculum
If I'm correct about your question, you said, do we need to inculcate quality education into schools? Yes. Do we need to incorporate climate education into the school curriculum? That's one question. Okay. Okay, okay. We need to incorporate climate education. I was just checking data now, I discovered that no school in Africa has done that. No school. In fact, based on that, I discovered that in 2019, 2019 or so, and some activities come for the same issues that we are trying to solve. Incorporating climate change in school curriculum. And so Tina does not be done. Why do we need to do that? Because these students are the future of Nigeria. They are the one that we face the.
Challenges and Necessities of Climate Education
If. You know what, I don't think I can still hear you. Is it just me? Can you just move around so that we can get to hear you? I guess it's the next. Okay, so yeah, so us not to waste much of the time. Mister Kelaso, would you like to make any comments regarding incorporating climate education into the school curriculum? Yeah, Mister Edo is actually making a vital point. So just to collaborate on what he is speaking on earlier, it's something that the government needs to take action on. And I mean when, I mean right now, because there is climate urgency already within our society and there's no doubt about that, right? Look at what is happening. Like a week ago, we heard about flooding, right, in Maiduguri. Some days back. Now, I think about two days ago, we are hearing about flooding in Kebi state. And this is leading to a lot of what we call loss and damage.
Impact of Climate Education on Society
If we are to quantify the amount of financial impact that the flooding in Maduguri has actually had on the people in that region, you realize that it is not something small. A lot of cars were submerged, people's property were destroyed. So when we have this climate education being incorporated into our curriculum, it will be talking about how people can adapt, how people can protect themselves.
Introduction to Climate Education Challenges
You know, children start to learn about, you know, some of these challenges even before it happened to them. And I mean, incorporating it into our curriculum also means contextualizing it. We are not talking about glacier in large quantity when it comes to Africa, right? Basically because that is not what we have within our own terrain. But when it comes to flooding, when it comes to drought, these are things that really affect us. And, you know, students need to start to learn about what are the causes of this thing and how do we mitigate some of these challenges. So when we incorporate something like this in our curriculum, it helps us to be able to take the right action.
Pan African Climate Education Network
Currently, now, I'm also a co-founder of a network called the Pan African Climate Education Network, which was set up through the teach for all global network, right. We are in over 20 African countries right now. And what we do in that network, even though our government have not really incorporated climate education into the school curriculum, where all schools have no choice than to take it, you know, we are bringing educators together, sharing knowledge of climate education with them and helping them and guiding them on how they can start to teach some of these things to their students during extracurricular activities. So these are some of the strategies that we are already taking, you know, being proactive to ensure that we pass out the right knowledge for young people and also even teachers. Right. So that we all will be able to do the right thing right now. Thank you.
Technical Issues and Challenges in Education
All right, thank you very much, Mister Emmanuel, you really touched on the major issues. I don't know if Mister Ido can still hear us if you can hear us. Can you just speak? He must be experiencing some technical issues. He's a speaker. He's a listener. For now he's not a speaker. Mister Ido, if you can hear us kindly accept the request to speak or exit the conversation and rejoin again. I hope that solves the problem. All right. So why we wait? Thank you very much.
Challenges Facing Climate Education in Nigeria
While we wait for him, there's another issue with some of the challenges being able to take climate education to schools. So I don't know if Mister Kilaustow can speak on that. Why we wait for those to join back the call. If you can speak on some of the challenges being faced by the secondary school institution or probably just the education system in Nigeria incorporating this climate education into the curriculum, what are these challenges? Do you think the ministry of education is doing the right thing? Do you? How can they even do better in order to make this a reality?
Bureaucracy in Education System
Okay. Thank you so much for this question. So one major thing as regarding Nigeria that I know for sure is bureaucracy. Right. When it comes to some of these implementing some policies, there are always lot of bureaucracies around implementing policies in Nigeria and this is a huge bottleneck to many of us. So for example when we started out trying to take environmental clubs to schools we wrote letters to Ministry of education and these letters were taken a while before we could even get responses from them. So, but because we are already, because I was running a fellowship program as at that time which is the teach for Nigerian fellowship program it makes it easy for me to be able to navigate some of those peer cases leveraging on the existing partnership before that between that network and the Ogun State Ministry of Education which was where we have our own environmental clubs in different schools.
Overall Challenges in Education
So when you look at it, these briefcases are like one of the major challenge. The other challenges, if you look at most of our teachers you realize that not many of them are getting as many opportunities as possible to get trainings while they are teaching. There's always limited budgeting for Ministry of education year in year out. And this is, you know, affecting a lot of things. Even if you look at it you realize that some of our classrooms, right in some public schools are not even worthy for learners to even go into those classrooms to speak. So imagine a classroom that is leaking and every rain is falling, right? Those students get cold and they face this impact of climate change firsthand. A classroom that doesn't have windows. So these are some of the challenges that are out there.
Lack of Understanding of Climate Education
And also not many teachers have this understanding of climate education that we are even talking about. And that's why my organization also took it upon ourselves to even run a climate education training for teachers while we are trying to set up the club, because we believe that we cannot be everywhere. So we have to first run a program to train teachers, after which we now starting clubs in some of those schools. So those teachers will co-op them into to being a partner with us so that we can run this training program together. So finances, is there limited access to, I mean, if the informations are out there, but then finances to run some of this program.
Curriculum Overload
And also the timeline that we have within our schools, be it primary school, be it secondary school, the amount of courses these students are now offering now is enormous. You see a secondary school student that is going to school, and the bag behind that student has a lot of books, right? So these are some of the things that I believe that needs to be checked so that it will be easy for us to be able to incorporate climate education into our school curriculum. And I believe once we are able to do that. And the most important thing is that climate education doesn't even have to be that. You have to, you know, take a separate hour of the school timeline to say you want to teach your student about climate education.
Integrating Climate Education into Existing Subjects
You can infuse climate education into your mathematics, you can infuse it into English, you can infuse it into basic science. Right. Some of these courses that this student does, when you are telling them to write an essay, instead of you just telling them to write about my friend or my father, you can tell them to write about something that is related to climate change. And that way you are building their focus vocabulary and you are also exposing them, you know, to this climate education that we are talking about. Thank you.
Making Climate Education Attractive
Thank you very much. All right. Thank you very much. Yeah, I was going to, Emanuel actually answered the next question I was going to ask him, but then I would like to ask Ido specifically, how can we make climate education in school? Is very interesting because Emmanuel made mention. Of incorporating that seem like a body or extra burden to the students. Exactly. Because recently I got to understand that there are lots of subjects that these secondary school children are currently taking on. So for us to say we are incorporating climate education into their curriculum, how can we make it more interesting? How can we make them see the need for them to, you know, take up these courses for even schools to be able to take up this curriculum if eventually it's been approved?
Communication Issues During Discussion
Why are you there? Can you hear us, please? If you're speaking. You are muted. Oh he says he can't hear us. Oh he just sent a message. I can't hear us. I'm just hearing you now. This is what you say. Please can you. Okay. Oh okay yeah so the previous speaker mentioned making climate is. Making climate is. Oh I can't hear you Jim fry you are talking. Please. Okay I can hear the cable.
Integrating Climate Education in Various Subjects
Okay so Jennifer. Yes I can hear you. I can't hear her. I can't hear you. Yes I can hear you very well. Sorry for all of the communication gap. Jane was asking that as Mister Emmanuel said earlier that part of the ways to introduce climate education into other subjects in the mathematics, English apart from establishing it as probably a subject of its own that what are the fun ways or interesting ways that climate change can be taught in secondary school to make it you know attractive to students? I love this question and I love the way Mister Kilaso explained this.
Creative Teaching Approaches
You see I just, it's like he was in exam with me. I just wrote examination based on what you are saying now on trends in STEM education and graduate that's my first semester course in PhD I'm doing last year and the course is still about STEM. STEM is we all know that science, technology, engineering and mathematics. My steam is science, technology, art and mathematics. When he was saying that he infused teaching of climate change in subjects it is perfect you know in steam the idea is creativity is innovation and so all subjects you are teaching you can incorporate climate change education in it but the problem is that the.
Challenges in Educating About Climate Change
Okay thank you teacher don't know how to do this that's one of the problem we have and that's teachers training factor and so in steam if an art teacher your credit can explain climate change in class if a mathematics teacher has stood Sts that's team science, technology, engineering and mathematics you can infuse teaching of every change in your subject in biology let me give example biology if you are teaching pollution in biology you see you don't use excessive perfume in your life. It increased the carbon monoxide in the hair like that. So there's no way, there's no topic you want to teach. You can incorporate teaching of climate change global warming in it so that you can save our future. Thank you.
Potential Transformations in Education
Thank you very much sir for that. Quickly one more question before I go back to Mister Kilasu. So you are advocating. You have petitioned the ministry of Education to see to the establishment of climate change clubs in Nigerian secondary school. How do you see this being a game changer for climate education in Nigeria and ultimately a sustainable and greener future for the country? If there are problems of education in Nigeria, the problem has been highlighted by Mister Kilaso which is an outdated curriculum.
Outdated Curriculum Challenges
The curriculum we are using. In fact one of the courses I took this semester was saying that the curriculum we are using in Nigeria University is outdated back to 2007 and so many future jobs that require future skills like cybersecurity, blockchain, other skill elements, industrial revolution are not well in our curriculum. And so if Minister of Education versus Thai Mama approved this and it is incorporated in our education in Nigeria, it will be a treasure in the way that it's going to open many opportunities for the students.
Opportunities Arising from New Initiatives
They will know what we are facing in Nigeria as regards climate change. They will better inform how to mitigate these issues and also the opportunity is going to open for their opportunities like renewable energy, opportunities like recycling, waste management. It will increase economical gdp and it is going to affect our growth in Nigeria, Africa. Thank you.
Updates on Educational Initiatives
Thank you very much. Quickly, how far have we gone with that petition? Do you see it coming to light? Yes, we are still looking forward to having people to subscribe to this unchange.com platform that we petitions. So we know that if we have many people that subscribe to it's going to reach the platform of the minister of Education and there's going to be action we're taking concerning that.
Ensuring Climate Education Translates to Action
Back to you Mister Kilaso. So I know you have spoken on this earlier, but how can we ensure that the knowledge and awareness that climate change education translates into action and behavior change among Nigerian youth? How do we ensure that and beyond the education translates into actually that it walk the talk. How do you ensure that?
Project-Based Learning Initiatives
All right, thank you so much for this amazing question. So currently now myself and a colleague of mine who we are both on the Pan African Climate Education Network, we are working on a project in partnership with University of Pennsylvania and this is on what is called PBL and that's project based learning. For something like climate education.
Practical Learning Approaches
It's more interesting when it is practical than when you just sit down in the classroom and you are just passing this information to students.
The Importance of a Clean Environment
Oh, you have to make your environment clean. How right. So the how is always been achieved when you make. You know, when you put a practical aspect to this particular project and when students start to see the result, it is much more easier for them to be a part of the project. So for example, while I was teaching, we had the project which is called plastic of purpose, right? And what we do with this particular project is that we gather plastic materials, right? Pet bottles especially. Then we sell them to recycling companies. We gather them in large numbers. We encourage students to bring them from their homes, right? When there is party around their houses, when they have ted bottles around their communities, they should bring them to school. So at the end of this session, we get these pet bottles in large number so that the amount we are getting from it can be worthwhile, right? I believe we all understand that the prices of pet bottle is not as much as that, right? So you have to have it in that quantity for you to be able to have something tangible from it.
Transforming Waste Into Resources for Education
So when we now sell these pet bottles to recycling company, the money we get from it, we use it to buy educational material for the students. Initially, when we started, even parents were like, how can you be taking pet bottles to school? And I'm a yoruba person, and in yoruba time we call it Chalet Charle. Like people that goes to the dump site to pick something. I mean, even under the United nations goals, this kind of, you know, waste pickers or waste management people, the job in a true self is termed, right, as a job that is not befitting. So a lot has to do, a lot has to be done around that job for people to accept it. Unlike developed countries, these are jobs that a lot of people respect because they know that without those people, their city will not be clean, right? So, but in this, our own region, jobs like this, you know, is insignificant. And I can tell you, if all the wasteland managers within Nigeria just decide to go on a one week break, none of us will enjoy ourselves, right?
Waste Management and Society's Responsibility
So there's going to be a takeover of waste. I mean, the old city will, you know, waste will take over rubbish. We take over the OCCT and everywhere we'll be looking on Tata. So these people do a lot of job and that's why we need to, anywhere we see them, we need to encourage them, we need to appreciate them, because, without a clean society, there is no LD society. Without a clean society, there's no elder society. So when the parents started seeing that we are buying, you know, textbooks like Queen Primer, which we use in improving the English, of their students, I mean, by themselves, they started bringing those pet bottles to school for us to be part of the project. But initially, you know, when they have not seen the result of this particular project. A lot of them frown against the project.
Engaging Students Through Practical Projects
So when you make the project and when you make the training project based, be it teaching them about droughts, you know, you are teaching them about how to manage water, doing a small garden within the community. I mean, by the time they see the results, and I believe many of us, even while we are growing up, we found out some science courses, because we just hear some of these things, like somebody telling you oxygen, somebody saying carbon dioxide, you're always wondering, where is it? What is it all about? Because we don't see some of these things. So when we make it project based, then, translating it into action already starts from the aspect where you are making the training a project based on. From inception. Yeah. Thank you.
Spreading Awareness Beyond School
A quick follow up to that, please. So when we have now educated these students, how do we. Because, of course, the goal is extended community education. How do you see to this, that they go ahead, they take the message home and in their little way, also become community champions, climate champions or advocates. Okay. Thank you so much for this question. So, one major thing that we first need to have an understanding of is the passage of knowledge. A knowledge gained cannot be lost. Once you have that knowledge with you might not be able to implement that knowledge immediately. But the day you need to bring it out as a joker, it will always be there. That's number one. Number two, because of the kind of work that we do and because of the enormous opportunity in the climate change sector or the environmental sector right now, some of the things that we also do is to encourage some, help them to apply for some of these opportunities.
Involving the Community and Families
We create competitions out of some of these opportunities. That way we are encouraging them to practice what we have taught them. Right. Some of them, you know, follow us with different locations, you know, trying to do poems, trying to write an essay, trying to do a speech regarding what they've been taught in class. Also, the schools where we have these clubs are also in a particular community. So we also engage the students on some days, right, maybe once in a time to do something around our community. So that way we are sending the message. And what this means is when the children are doing the right thing, the parent has no choice. And that's like the message that we are trying to pass across to our society by having the environmental clause.
Encouraging Positive Practices in Students' Families
Because we know when you see your children doing the right thing, you don't want to do the wrong thing. Because once you do that, then there's a lot of questions for you to answer. So you rather just avoid answering many questions. Like we used to say, you will explain, explain, tire. So you either not want to start explaining things that you cannot even finish, so you just do the right thing when you see your children doing the right thing. Yeah. Thank you, thank you. That's reminding me so much about my children asking a lot of whys, you know, and so I cannot even explain. Thank you so much.
The Role of Stakeholders in Climate Education
So there is a lot of role that stakeholders have to play if climate, education, or even the establishment of this club is to become a mainstay thing. So what role do you think that school owners, principals, parents, the ministries of education, our government parasitos can play, you know, in making this a fruition? Mister, why are you there? Are you there? Okay, he just left the speaker section. So I would have to pass that question to Mister Kilasu Fendi when Mister do is able to join back in.
Creating Enabling Environments for Climate Education
So for every society to try, stakeholders have a lot of work to do, right? And in this aspect, talking about, let's start from the government. One major thing the government needs to do at every point in time is to provide an enabling environment for citizens to thrive, for projects to be implemented, for action to be taken. Governments have this budget on their own. Ministry of Environment have this budget. Education might not have the budget, but there is nothing stopping Ministry of environment, be it the state or the federal, to collaborate together. Ministry of Education to have a project around, you know, climate change, right? And take them to schools, be it primary schools, be secondary school, be it tertiary institution.
The Importance of Role Models in Environmental Education
Talking about parents, I mean, as a teacher, one of the major things that I understand clearly is that students don't listen to what you are saying. Children don't listen to what you are saying. They watch what you do and they emulate you. So you cannot be telling students to keep their environment clean while you, as a teacher, you are done with eating something and you just dispose the waste material anyhow you like. There is no amount of talk. You can tell those students the school will never be clean. But when they see that everybody who is like a major stakeholder within that environment are doing the right thing, trust me, everybody will fall in line talking about our society, right.
Government Responsibility in Waste Management
You can barely walk. 1 km for you to see a waistband. The only thing I know you can see majorly in Nigeria is all these dumpster right which most oftenly turns to like a dump site within a particular community. Like in major places where people just come and dump refuse and everybody go but you can be walking and say oh you saw a curbside waste bin that you can dispose a particular material except if you are within an estate and that's perenna particular kept sideways will even belong to a particular house. So government needs to create infrastructure that will enable people to do the right thing be it in the area of agriculture, the flooding that is happening, government needs to create proper water drainage channels.
Addressing Environmental Challenges with Preparedness
Infraction needs to be managed as at the right time, not when disaster has happened. Now look at what is happening in some of the northern and state in Nigeria. No matter the amount of money that government might be saying they are distributing out now is of no use when people have lost their lives, when they've lost their property, when people have been washed away. I mean even if there's somebody who has been washed away by the, by that flood and the person eventually survived, that person can never forget that experience state the person will, you know, and grow old and even die and go to heaven. So the mental stress and everything is always there. So there's a whole lot of roles that, you know, the government needs to play.
Collaboration and Training in Schools
Talking about school principals, they also need to create enabling environment. Allow organizations who want to come and train your students about climate education after you know, doing your own due diligence, ensuring that the people coming of good quality and they are not going to harm your students in any way. Bring them in, let them support you with knowledge that your teachers or yourself might not have so that these students will not be missing out. For us as an organization, most of our project is always centered to public schools, government schools, because we know that if you can send your child to a private school then you are privileged.
Focusing on Inclusivity in Training
But students in public schools, many of these students don't even understand what is happening out there and we ensure that we are taking our programs with them because we believe that they should not also be left out of the society. So it is very important for us based on wherever environment we find ourselves and we as an organization as well we should not say, oh, because you know that Nigeria, there's always bottlenecks here and there. We will not step out to even still try to reach out to schools, to communities where we can have some of this training and impact them.
Collaboration as a Key to Success
So we also should ensure that we step out right. And collaboration is key to achieve a lot. We need to collaborate together and by doing so, we would be able to reach out to as many number of people that need, you know, this training as possible. All right, thank you very much Mister Akilafso. That was very insightful. I don't know if Mister do can hear me now. Please, if you can hear me, can you unmute so that you can take the next question?
Inclusivity in Climate Education
I can hear you. Please, I can hear you. That's fine. Thank you. So we'd like to find out how we can make this climate education very inclusive. Because we get to see the gap between the rural and the urbanization schools whereby education, climate education is not being taken to the rural schools. So how do we ensure that the students in the rural environments are being educated as well, like the students in the urban sector? How do we get to do that? How do we get to enlighten them? Because this climate education is not. No respect anyone.
The Need for Funding
How are we going to ensure that everybody is in line, is being carried along based on the sustainable development goal? Funding, funding. We need funding to do that. Why? Because many corporate organizations should also partner with the government to make that their CSR, their corporate social responsibility to ensuring that the rural areas are also well educated in climate change mitigation, awareness and adaptation.
The Importance of Funding
And so that is how we can be able to solve that issue. Funding is the key for reaching out to rural areas. If you give, if I have mister class receiving funding now, you will see that by tomorrow. Some areas we experience some level of education in climate change. So funding is required and government must also take this as they are to do. Thank you.
Concerns about Education and Job Opportunities in Climate Change
All right. You said funding. Major issue is funding. And I also have another question that bothers me. And this question is irrespective of the fact that in Nigeria we get to see that even those who studied and the professional, they perceived professional courses are not even able to get the jobs, are not even able to get enough live means of livelihood per se. How and what are these career paths students can look forward to around climate change and climate education? Are there really career paths to that? Do you think that students who pursue climate related courses or climate change related courses can make it in life? I mean, we are talking reality. We are Nigerians. We get to see the economic and challenges in the country. So if per se, any student wishes toe that line, are there really any cause they can look out for? Do they see any potential in even towing that climate change line? So I would like to get more insight to that. If Idowu can take that, I would also like Ilaso to speak on it after him.
Updating the Nigerian Curriculum
Thank you very much for this question. I appreciate that. That's why I said that the total curriculum of Nigeria needs to be overd. Our curriculum in Nigeria is outdated. You said that people that studied professional course are not able to get job. Yes, because there is a dichotomy from what we are teaching our students to what it is available in the market. For example, now in the first industrial revolution, the key job out there now is massive security. We have blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, we have IoT device, we have smart grid, renewable energy, climate change. Our curriculum is not still load in Nigeria to able to solve this challenge. Also let me tell you some technicians that install solar power inverter. If it is half system in 1 hour, this technician will go with 20,000 error in 2 hours. If you add solar panels to it inverter and battery, this person can go on with 30,000 error in 2 hours. And so let's see that person receive three, five, seven jobs in a month. Calculate what that technician will receive. And so there are so many opportunities in renewable energy, in climate change, in a waste recycle that students can tap into and they can make money than just studying courses are not related to what is out there. Again, thank you.
Dynamic Changes in Job Markets
All right, thank you very much. Visa class over to you please. Thank you. So thank you so much for this amazing question. So if you look at the world dynamics right now, you realize that not just about climate change alone, but a lot of changes are happening as regarding the job markets, right? And one major thing I believe so much, well, is the case of sustainability will keep growing. And this is basically because if you look at the world some few hundred years back, you realize that the population we have as at that time and the population we are having right now are far apart. And in the next ten to 20 to 30 years, the population is still going to increase, right? So as someone who has its background in earth sciences and I major basically in geophysics, I quite understand the fact that the resources are not as much as what we are looking out for, right. Anymore. So imagine everybody wants to build house, we need cement, everybody wants to buy car, you need petrol, right? I mean, everybody has to wear clothes, everybody wants to write on a book. So. And this calls for more innovation and some of this innovation, what the global south has been able to do so far is to ensure that as many innovation that you are bringing out right now, it has to have a form of sustainability aspect of it.
Integrating Sustainability into Learning
So whether it is in furniture industry, whether it is in mechanical industry, whether it's in the agri sector, this sustainability has to be infused in anything that you are doing. And you can't take that sustainability away from you having the knowledge of climate change and looking for how do you mitigate or how do you adapt to this climate change. And this is what is now influencing some of the new product that people are doing right now. You start seeing a lot of people talking about eco friendly this, eco friendly that, right. And this is the aspect of sustainability that we are talking about. And a lot of green jobs are out there as well, and many more will still be created. So I'm certainly sure that with the right curriculum, as mister.Edu have said, right, not just leveraging back on what we have, what every one of us have been taught right from childhood, right? Talking about curriculum that brings about the creativity and the innovativeness, young people, then the sky is the limit as far as sustainability sector is concerned.
Implementing Climate Education Programs
All right, thank you very much. And before we even continue, I would like to let everybody know, everybody who is on this space, that if you have any question before Mister Kilaso steps out, because I understand that he'll be joining another webinar before he steps out. If you have any question regarding the conversation, please do indicate so that we can, you know, take it off before he leaves. So I would like to also find out from you, Mister Idowu, are there some of these programs, these activities you've been championing from your own end? And how successful has he been so far? Yes. For climate change, what we do in our own space is awareness, education, advocacy, and also we are looking forward to going to climate change competitions, climate change quiz that will increase the knowledge of students that in climate change. And so that's what we have been doing. And so we see that students begin to understand and begin to have an awareness of what is called climate change and the SG grows at large.
Successes in Climate Education Initiatives
All right, thank you very much. Mister Kilaue, over to you. You can take the same question to the successes you've had so far based off of your, the initiative you're championing. All right, thank you so much. I will start from one point that Mister Idogu echoed the other time, funding, funding. So when it comes to running a not for profit organization, I mean, you have to depend on a lot of strategy to ensure that what you do survives. So everything that we do in the nonprofit sector has to do with pushing one information or implementing one project or the other. So we currently have a product that we don't sell, but this is a product that we use in addressing climate change. And also we also use it to address issue around quality education.
Innovative Approaches to Environmental Awareness
So we gather genes from as many people as we can get, right? Once you see that your gene is looking faded and you as a pink person, you are not willing to wear that gene again, we just collect the gene from you and we turn it into a school bag, right, which we can then donate to children from underserved community. So it boils down to innovation and creativity. So, and we also do environmental awareness as well. We also do clean up campaigns because we don't just want to start to tell you that make your community clean. Don't do this, don't do that. Aside from we just talking and we pushing out content on social media, we also do it physically. We pick a community at a time. We pick a location at a time. We create change within that community or that location. And we now then put inscription that this place has been cleaned by our organization. We wouldn't want you to turn the place into a dump site anymore. Right.
Educating Communities for Better Health
And while we are doing that, we go to market, you know, educate market women about the importance of ensuring that the market is clean, owing to the fact that is where what almost everybody within the society buys to their houses and cook. So if we want a healthy people within the society, the markets where our food producer also being sold should also be Audi at the same time. So these are, these are many months. That part of the things that we do within secure cycle as well. Thank you. Thank you very much for that insightful answer.
Introducing Climate Education to Younger Children
Quickly, before we call it a day, I have asked Mister Idowu this question before, but for the sake of those that were not private to that conversation, talking about climate education and catching them young, I asked, I want to know that, do we have to? Is there a way we can take it a bit lower to probably the primary school level so that I understand that from your explanation, there are creative and exciting ways that it can be taught. Are there ways we can bring it down to that level so that from the very start children can be carried along? I think I've answered this question before, but what I said in that question is answer is this. You see, to effectively engage students in climate change at various levels, there are methodologies to use as early child education is Mansory, they use playweek method the expert in early childhood education will be able to do that effectively by, from the age of three, four through ten, primary school should, teachers should be able to explain in a dramatic way to teach students in that range level.
Methodologies for Teaching Climate Change
As I am not an expert in early childhood education, so I cannot speak more on that. So I think that's my answer to that. We focus on secondary school, in secondary school, different methods, different pedagogy, different strategy to them also in higher institution, different. So that's my answer to that. Thank you, mister Kilasa. If you could quickly answer that before you take your leave. In a minute. Yes, actually. So some of the schools that we work with, even primary schools, right, we have both primary schools and secondary schools. So it's, it depends on how you create the content.
Tailoring Climate Education for Younger Audiences
The same content you want to give to secondary school people can be broken down into smaller sentences or smaller bits that we enable primary school students to also have an understanding of what you are trying to teach them. But what we do is we limit it to the upper primaries, right? Like primary four five. And so that way we know that every student from primary four can understand what you are saying and it is easy for them to follow you. So we just ensure that the content is not too bulky or the vocabulary we are using to pass this message to them is not beyond what they can comprehend. Thank you so much.
Concluding Remarks on Climate Education
Thank you very much. Thank you Mister Ayoli and Mister Idu, for, you know, honoring our invitation to discuss this very critical topic. I have indeed learned a lot today about climate education and indeed why we need to, you know, bring it down to the students level to ensure, you know, we groom leaders. Because as I said, they are the futures of tomorrow. Even though some argued that it should be futures of, they are the leader of tomorrow, somebody that should be leaders of today. Thank you very much. Jane. Any final words before we call it a day?
Closing the Discussion
Yeah. I still want to appreciate the speakers for their wonderful contribution. We appreciate you for making it a date with us. Thank you very much. Even as we close, we can let Mister Kilasu, I see he's itchy to leave and let him join his other webinar. Thank you very much for this conversation. We appreciate you. This is a recorded conversation, so anyone who missed that on it can go back, you know, and listen and learn. Thank you very much, Mister idu. And we hope that we can continue this as a form of advocacy. So the next time when we call on you to come talk on climate related issues, we hope that you'd also indulge our request.
