School students learn how to fight global warming

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/08/16/national/School-students... EDUCATION School students learn how to fight global warming By Premyuda Boonroj The Nation Tokyo Published on August 16, 2010 Thai pupils taught eco-friendly ways of life at Toshiba camp in Japan As the clock ticked past midnight, several highschoolers from Japan, Thailand, USA and Poland were still up working on articles for the "ActEco Journal". They wanted to show readers what they had learnt from fieldtrips about a greener lifestyle and attempts to tackle global warming. With the theme of trying to halve CO2 emission by 2050, the 3rd Toshiba International Youth Conference brought together 19 high school students and 11 teachers early this month to review, in a journalistic way, efforts in Japan to solve global environmental challenges. Starting off at the Chiba Prefecture's Josai Awa Kamokawa Learning Centre, the camp, organized by nonprofit organisation BeGood Cafe, got the kids to know each other and overcome cultural and language barriers through communication, teambuilding and goal sharing workshops. From the simple and ecological community of "Kamokawa Nature Kingdom" amid Chiba's richly green mountains to the concrete jungle of Tokyo Metropolitan where existed the "Tokyo Uden 2017" biodiesel scheme and the rooftop Ginza honey project, from the Josai International University founder Mizuta Mikio's Japanese farmhouse built 150 years ago to the Toshiba Museum's modern technologies overlooking into future, these bright young minds explored, jotted down notes about, and took photos of what they had seen. Working in three groups namely Lifestyle, Business/Politics, and Science/Technology, they produced articles about the fieldtrips for the camp's very own "ActEco Journal" at the end of each day. On the fifth day, the students interviewed a Japanese congressman Mitsuji Ishida advocating for renewable technologies and sustainable communities in Japan, Institute for Sustainable Energies Policy researcher Shota Furuya, and the president of an environmental advocacy company called Sustena, Miyako Maekita, and wrote articles about them in the evening. The idea of making "ActEco Journal" developed from the previous years' feedback and was to give the students a sense of mission accomplishment and a concrete result to share with others back at home, according to BeGood Cafe Chairman Kiyoshi Shikita. Tanachit Sangchan from Assumption College Lampang said the journal made the camp positively different, helped him learning how to work with other international friends and prepared him for university workload, but he wished there were more time scheduled to write articles, as many kids worked very late and woke up next morning feeling rather sleepy. Despite the tight schedule and pressing deadline, the students managed to complete their tasks nicely, thanked to the evening "sharing and reflection" session in which they reviewed daily lessons and make suggestions to fellow campers' article writing. Thawatchai Sangdee from Trium Udom Suksa School said the "sharing and reflection" was a big help in exchanging with other campers who might have seen something different during fieldtrips. He also wished the camp were held in one summer rather than a week and Thailand had this kind of intense-but-fun camp over environment or development topics for youths. The conference concluded with presentations by the attending eight schools about practical measures and their post-conference commitments. Shota Utsumi and Maya Hirohara from Keio Shonan Fujisawa Senior High School vowed to promote at school the concept of local production for local consumption to cut down CO2 emission, while Hitashi First High School's Yusuke Horie and Mariko Kikuchi would start with small steps like sing eco-friendly products and organising used oil candle-making during the school festival. Waseda University Senior High School's Shinya Hara, Ritaro Kasai and Takumi Nagashima said they considered recycling used oil from school cafeteria. School for Environmental Studies' Diana Eng, Ashley Hernandez, Nina Luksanapol and Alejandro eyed on spreading word for a sustainable lifestyle promotion to friends and families, organising a weekend environmental conference for New York high school pupils, and doing small but matter things such as keeping a rooftop garden, buying produces from local farmer markets, and reducing plastic bag usage. Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace nr 14 we Wroawiu students Arkadiusz Kacala and Jakub Ubysz said the camp made them realised that Poland's simple countryside lifestyle could be for sustainable future and they could still timely prevent environmental problems in Poland. High School by PolishJapanese Institute of Information Technology's Anastazja Karolewska and Aleksander Martyniak said they would explained what they have learned to peers and urge them to engage in ecological movements. Triam Udom Suksa School's Supawich Wongkietkachorn and Thawatchai Sangdee said they would create noplastic bag campaign at school and promote the exchange of local products in community. Assumption College Lampang's Teerapat Sutjaluk and Tanachit Sangchan eyed on collecting old cooking oil from school canteen and doing a science project on Vegetable Diesel Fuel (VDF), which reduces CO2 by 2.62 kg per litre. After this year, all schools - mostly selected by their consistent engagement in environmental activities would change, except the Polish schools that joined this conference for the second year, because each school was to participate for three consecutive years, said Fumihiko Namekawa, president of Toshiba International Foundation. While students take turns each year to attend, the teachers will remain the same persons, in order to ensure consistency and teachers' deeper understanding, he said. In the conference, the teachers thus had a chance to enhance the abilities to promote environmental and scientific education and intercultural communication as well as networking through workshops held by the Japan Centre for International Exchange. Next year, the conference will be held in Japan and Toshiba Thai Foundation eyed on sending Thai non-governmental organization members to learn how to organize such event to pave way for Thailand to host the camp in future or organise a similar event in a national scale, said Toshiba Thai Foundation president Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul. As the spirits of youths and their mentors were fuelled by new knowledge, exchange over the matter and friendship by the end of camping, they were hoped to shine on and light the way closer towards the less-polluted and sustainable future.