by Dinah Wallis
Street Art: Children’s Voices and Climate Action
Dinah Wallis — April 27, 2023
Lyttelton Primary School Name: Nature Rangers Team: 18 Year 5-8 ākonga Location: Community Steps, to be completed Term Two, 2023
The following information is from a publication from NZAEE - Educating for Sustainability Te Mauri o te Taiao
Key Messages:
- Protect our environment, especially the animals, sea and hills
- Respect what brings life to nature
- Look after the sea life
- We need to restore the balance and return the forces of nature within us
- Love all of the world around you
“I want to send a message to the world. I want people to look after our world and I think people aren’t quite clear what is going on. We need people to help to see what is going on. This mural will do that.”
-Yr. 7, Lyttelton School
How could climate change and sea level rise affect the things we value?
The sea will rise and flood the land; it will take away homes and other animal’s homes as well; The sea could become polluted making it harder to sail and play in and around; it would also not be great for the marine animals; It could affect our health and wellbeing; It could erode the hills; There will be more extreme weather like storms and droughts; Coastal walks and caves will be destroyed.
How could we adapt? To adapt we need to plan; do lots of planting; build natural seawalls; think about how we build our houses and where we build them; look at ways we can protect the animals and where they live; we need to all start talking and planning together; let go of some of the things we don’t really need or do it differently.
The students worked together to create a collaborative design for the steps.
”We would like to present two scenarios for Whakaraupō and climate change aka ‘Pick your path’. Each scenario is dependent on the choices we all make now.”
According to the Nature Rangers, the three ‘C’s’ for a successful group mural are: Communicate, collaborate and compromise!
“I love Lyttelton and care about our future, so this mural helps climate change by altering people’s thoughts about climate change and therefore, making a special change.”
– Yr. 7, Lyttelton School
Written by Sian Carvell, Future Curious Limited
