World Environment Day 2021

Climate change affects each and every one of us. Many people though have been left out of the conversations we have around this topic - particularly those voices of indigenous people, seldom heard in the Eurocentric mainstream narrative. These voices are equally, if not more important and cry out to be listened to. (These issues would require another blog to explain, so I’ll leave you to work out why their voices are so often absent).

Palestine is a country of world importance in environmental terms. It is situated in the centre of the main migration route for birds travelling in and out of Africa to Europe and Asia, and is also one of the places where humans first cultivated crops thousands of years ago, making Palestinians well placed to study the effects of the climate on growing food.

It was with enormous interest that I watched the Hands Up Projects event for World Environment Day. What the presentations did so effectively, as well as raising important issues, was to highlight the importance of language in the climate change narrative. It is fundamental in enabling the expression of opinion, understanding the science and being able to be part of a global discussion. For students in places like Gaza it’s vital for them to let the rest of the world know that issues of the environment are just as important to them as they are for people in Europe, the US or elsewhere else. In this blog I quickly wanted to reiterate the importance of this and highlight the contribution of students, teachers and the speakers who took part in this event.

Central to the Hands Up Project’s involvement was a truly brilliant performance of the remote play ‘Welcome to Earth’. This was performed beautifully and with great creativity in Lockdown theatre style by students Ghazal, Yara, Sara and Rahaf from Beit Hanoun Prep girls school in Gaza with support of their teacher, Rinan Jamal. The play, written by students in Palestine, has a universal message of protecting our planet and making it a better place for future generations.

Welcome To Earth starts approx. 2.00 mins into the Youtube video

Colm Downes, from British Council Indonesia used to be the English projects manager at British Council Palestine, and he’s a long time friend of HUP. He presented the BC’s new initiative, The Climate Connection, which aims to integrate learners of English into the discussion of global climate concerns. As part of this initiative, they provide training courses and materials (including podcasts with show notes) for teachers and students - all with the aim of building climate literacy to enable students to take these issues forward into the global discussions.

Colm’s talk starts at approx. 11.00 minutes into the video

www.britishcouncil.org/climate-connection

From within Palestine we heard from the Director of the Palestine Museum of Natural History, Imad Atrash about environmental issues challenging the country and the amazing work being done in education to promote responsible human interactions with the environment.

Imad’s section of the event begins at approx. 38.00 mins into the video

www.palestinenature.org

www.wildlife-pal.org

Mazin Qumsiyeh, Palestinian human rights activist, scientist and author, spoke about Restoring hope via work on biodiversity and sustainability in Palestine.

Mazin’s talk begins approx. 50 mins into the event

qumsiyeh.org

Frazie Hulbert from Frazoo, a Hands Up Project regular and volunteer, was thoroughly engaging with her presentation about Palestinian flora and fauna, complete with a live introduction to her spiny mouse from her home zoo.

Frazie’s presentation starts at 25 minutes into the video

www.frazoo.co.uk

A fine presentation showing the importance of language in the climate change narrative was Saja, a student from Gaza, presenting a project students carried out on the theme of Sea Water Pollution in the Gaza Strip. A brilliant example of a young Palestinian telling the world about an important environmental issue that affects them directly on a daily basis. With the support of their teacher Rabab Samak.

Also using her language powerfully was student Reda Ouda from Gaza who was inspired to write a ‘Letter to Earth’ as part of the Hands Up Project’s intercultural communication course.

Reda’s “Letter to Earth’ can be heard at approx.1hr 18mins into the event

Last, but not least, the Hands Up Project’s very own trustee Rida Thabet, explained the writing competition she is running to engage students in environmental issues and give them an opportunity to use their climate vocabulary by writing a poem, a story or a song.

For full details of the competition that Rida is running read her blog ‘The Fish that Lived’

We have amazing organisations, educational materials and a wealth of information at our fingertips, to help engage Palestinian students to tell the world their important environmental messages from Palestine, and to be involved in global discussions on such issues. The degradation of the beautiful and important environment of Palestine is not only a huge loss to its people, but a huge loss to us all. The power and the ability to be climatically literate is essential in stopping this from happening.

Finally a big acknowledgment to Nick, Sara and Raja’a for their amazing organisational and creative skills in putting on such a superb event. If you’ve yet to watch the Hand’s Up Project’s World Environment Day event, you can do so below…. enjoy!