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Students have had enough of climate. At Denmark’s most environment informed college students declare that they’re fed up with climate issues.
By Mathilde Passer, Olivia Topp, Josephine Lindegaard, Mille Sundby, Cecilia Nydam and Nanna Rahr, Ørestad Gymnasium
Numerous of students at Ørestad Gymnasium are tired of global warming and the influence it has on all lessons. They complain about the topic being included in subjects from geography to history.
“Yes, I’m tired of hearing about climate,” says Simone Klint from 2.m. This is the general attitude among students at Ørestad Gymnasium. “We do get it now, it’s been repeated too many times. No matter what subject you have, the teachers find a way to involve global warming.”
Even though they are tired of it, they are aware of the importance of the topic. The students feel well informed and know to be a part of making a difference. However many seem to take the problems less serious than recommended. The young people miss progress. “When we hear about a new problem we think: “well, we’ve heard that before, it’s not a surprise” and we don’t take it so serious because it’s always the same,” says Victoria Ravnsbeck from 2.j.
Philippa Nielsen from 1.j feels too small to make a difference: “It’s such a huge problem and I can’t see how I can do anything about it. I don’t feel I can help to make progress.”
“It is tiring to involve in something when you never see improvement,” says Laura May Abundo from 3.g. The conference’s fault These days, Ørestad Gymnasium is very focused on climate, because of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, that’s being held in Copenhagen, near the college. Allan Kjær Andersen, the principal of Ørestad Gymnasium, is aware that the topic has to be reduced from the lessons after the conference has been held.
“Normally the students only learn about global warming in natural science, but when the conference is taking place in the other side of the street, it’s obvious that we choose to widen the topic,” says Allan Kjær Andersen. Lack of interest Ørestad Gymnasium does have students with interest in climate, but it has been difficult for the very few students to come through with a climate committee. Before summer the committee had eight members, but four of them graduated, so only half of them were left to carry on the project. The four students haven’t felt much support among the students, so the committee had to suffer its death this autumn. Sofie Clausen from 3.h has been in the climate committee for two years and was sad to shot the group down, but it didn’t come as a surprise. “The students are very tired of climate, because we have it in our lessons all the time. They don’t want to commit to some thing school related in their spare time,” she says.
Through campaigns and posters in the school building, they tried hard to get through to the students and make them join the committee, but students has more than enough climate in just their lessons as well as their everyday.
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