Dr. Chip Fletcher (SOEST, UH Manoa) and Ms. Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner (College of the Marshall Islands) gave the keynote address to over 1,000 educators attending the 2015 Pacific Educational Conference in Majuro, Marshall Islands.
In his message, The Climate Crisis and Climate Education in the Pacific, Dr. Fletcher provides strong scientific evidence of the impact of climate change to the Pacific and offers 6 key messages about adapting to climate change consequences: 1) climate education is a necessity; 2) teach climate variability; 3) teach king tides; 4) teach the reef and how to reduce reef stress; 5) teach the forest and invasive species; and 6) teach, live and model stewardship.
Ms. Jetnil-Kijiner, an instructor at CMI and the young Marshallese mother who spoke at the United Nations 2014 Climate Summit, offered a response to Dr. Fletcher’s message in local stories about stewardship and her performance of Dear Matafele Peinem.
* Dr. Fletcher’s segment begins at 9:46 and Ms. Jetnil-Kitjiner begins at 41:33
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
Foundation (NSF) under Grants #1068123 and #1239733 to Pacific
Resources for Education and Learning (PREL).
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.