SCOTT BROCATO:
First of all, what is the Global Warming Express?
GENIE STEVENS:
The Global Warming Express is what we call a buy kids for kids program that actually was created by kids eleven years ago. The name, the Global Express, is based on a book, and the kid who originated all of this was my daughter. And she wrote a book to give to President Obama when she was nine years old; she started it when she was nine years old. And it was called the Global Warming Express. And she expressed a desire to start a program for kids like her so that they could do something to make an impact in the world around what was then called global warming. And now what we've, of course, what we now call climate change.
SCOTT BROCATO:
And when she gave the book to then President Obama, what was his reaction?
GENIE STEVENS:
Thanks to the. Help of then Congressman Ben Ray Lujan, now Senator Ben Ray Lujan, the book did get delivered to him. She did not unfortunately, get a chance to hand it off to him. And that her expectation was that that she probably just didn't have enough information and she needed to help him have enough information so that he could take action on the problem.
She actually started all this when she was 6, and she started writing letters to him when she was 6 because she was perceiving there were some problems. (Laughs) And so she decided to write the letter, and somebody at the White House continued to correspond with her with different form letters. So for a few years, she thought she was writing to the president. And she thought that every time she gave him more information, he was just taking action. And so at some point, she learned what a form letter was, and it didn't crush her vision, I said. What do you want to do about that? And she said, well, I mean, there's only one thing to do: have a meeting with the guy.
But along the way what happened was she created--thanks to her, I created--a program for other kids. And the other kids “jumped on board the Global Warming Express.” And the Global Warming Express lived up to its name because it is kid-driven, 8 to 12 year old driven. It moves, it can move very quickly. So it's still a kid-driven program. It's still run mostly after school. And sometimes it's run in school. We have an app for it so that teachers can now roll it out in their classrooms. But it's very much about engaging the children and not “teaching” it to them per se.
SCOTT BROCATO:
And this is the climate change and mindfulness training. Or is that a separate thing that what the teachers will be given?
GENIE STEVENS:
The program right now is a program that teaches science, and then overlays science with climate science and solutions that within the first term, that's pretty much the the whole program. The second part of the program deals with what to do about it, because it by the end of the first semester, once the kids have learned about the science and climate science and the solutions, they almost always say, what can we do? And our answer to them is, what do you want to do? And we asked them to create a big goal and a small goal for the rest of the school year. It's a yearlong, once a week program. They create goals, and we say we are also going to give you a few tools. One is learning to make a speech. So they learn public speaking and they learn letter writing. They also engage with art throughout the program, different visual arts and performance arts. So they can choose whatever way they want to get their message into the world. Once they choose their big goal and their small goal, then they move into action. Once they move into action, then the program becomes theirs and we just follow. We support.
What we're adding to that is the mindfulness piece. and the mindfulness piece is critical, because we're at this juncture of time on the planet where we are really running out of time. And what the kids need is not so much climate education; they're getting that in their backyard. What they need is they need to learn how to resource themselves--how to drop inside, how to learn to become resilient no matter what they're facing on the outside. And so the mindfulness piece is the really deep breath peace. That grounds their actions and their words and their whole their thinking about the climate crisis.
SCOTT BROCATO:
And how can teachers apply and get more information about this program and when is the deadline to apply?
GENIE STEVENS:
We bumped it to August 31st. Teachers can apply by going to our website and clicking on the Contact Us button at the bottom of the home page or writing to me directly. And my e-mail address genie@theglobalwarningexpress.org.
SCOTT BROCATO:
Alright, thank you so much, Genie Stevens, climate change education director with the Rio Grande Sierra Club. Thanks for joining us on KRWG public media.
GENIE STEVENS:
Thanks so much for having me.
