Join the Global Youth-Led Fight for Climate Education Straight From Breck

Did you know that, right now, students just like you are helping the United Nations spread climate information all across the globe? You may be wondering what that little sign titled “Climate Cardinals”, peaking off the side of the poster for environmental club, was doing at the club fair. Well I’m here to tell you! Climate Cardinals is a new organization that Breck will be working with to spread climate education opportunities to the student body! Discovering a page on Instagram related to youth oriented climate education I didn’t think much of it at first. However, after spending more time researching and reaching out to the founders, I was quickly drawn to everything that Climate Cardinals had to offer. Climate Cardinals is a youth-led international nonprofit organization that translates climate documents into local languages, empowering students around the world to join the fight against the climate crisis. The group partners with the UN to ensure these translations reach communities across the globe, helping spread climate education to where it’s needed most. However, their chapter programs take these goals of climate education and push them further.
Climate Cardinals is an organization that is quickly changing the climate education space by getting youth involved in active participation. With over 150 different chapters in more than 130 different countries, the Breck community has a special opportunity to connect with hundreds of youth world-wide. As the leader of the Breck Climate Cardinals Chapter, I had the pleasure to meet, over zoom, with over 20 different fellow chapter leaders ranging from 15 different countries. In these meetings we discussed all our goals of our chapters in the upcoming school year as well as accomplishments we had already made. I met a student from Quito, Ecuador, who’s working to transition their school to use 100% renewable energy. With the help of UNICEF, they’re creating a Net Zero institution—a first in their community. I met two young men from Nepal who organized youth and native folk in their community to lobby against recent legislation that harms the environment. I met a student from Kampala, Uganda, who led her Climate Cardinals chapter in the clean-up operation at a local market to eliminate waste and help local vendors.
The work Climate Cardinals does to help our environment is vast, but most importantly, it is led by students like us. Due to the passionate student body we have at Breck, I knew our partnership with this organization would be able to make great change. Working in tandem with the environmental club, the Breck Climate Cardinals Chapter will be a place for students to come and get actively involved with climate education volunteer opportunities. We aim to create a community of passionate and motivated students who are eager to learn more about what they can do to spread their climate justice influence. We will host many different events open to the entire student body, not just members of the environmental club, so everybody can participate in making change. We’re planning hands-on events like translation workshops, guest speakers, and environmental cleanups. These will give you the chance to make an impact locally while contributing to a global cause. Because they work with branches of the UN like UNICEF and UNESCO, Climate Cardinals will be able to take the work we do here at Breck and spread it to a global level, spreading education about the climate crisis across the world. By joining the Breck Climate Cardinals chapter, you’ll connect with students worldwide and play an important role in spreading climate education.
So next time you see a “Climate Cardinals” meeting being announced on the mustang minute, or at assembly, I hope you feel a little more versed in what we actually are. Please don’t be afraid to stop by and learn how you can use what resources you have access to to make a great impact in solving our climate crisis. Stay tuned for updates on events and opportunities we have coming up. We are so excited to see all the work and change the Breck community can make to spread climate education.