The world struggles with the issue of climate change. Over the last decades, our planet’s situation has worsened while politicians are unable to agree on solutions to change and reduce the use of fossil fuels. Society in general has not changed its habits enough to mitigate the effects of the massive rising quantity of CO2 gases emitted by human activities.
Due to this, some individuals and groups are trying to make an effort to act against climate change. Examples include Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal, who is working hard in favour of a European Climate Law.
But others, despite all the evidence and scientific reports, do not believe that the latest events of climate change are caused by humans.
Many different views and proposals exist, yet there is no real public agreement. Therefore, the research question of this theme is: how should we deal with climate change?
We start all projects with a 10-minute starter clip from the In Europe documentary series, in order to introduce the topic in a vivid way. There is room for discussion on different levels. After two lessons with historical context and background information, students will start making their own short documentary (5-15 minutes) in small groups. Seven tutorials will teach students all about research, interviewing, filming and editing. The teacher will upload the videos to the In Europe YouTube playlist where you can find all videos made by students from all over Europe. The upload tutorial will help teachers to do so.
The starter clip on climate change shows a personal perspective and decision about the issue. In the documentary, students will interview a protagonist and propose a way to handle climate change. In the enquiry and the making of the documentary, students will link current weather events to a broader context. They will experience that they can contribute to the public debate.