More than 100 ninth graders—each representing a specific country—swarm around the Orcutt Junior High School gym enticing each other to sign resolutions they’ve written to address the effects of global warming.
“If [the resolution] doesn’t serve the self-interest of your country, don’t sign it,” Sharir Chan, Orcutt Academy’s world civilizations/world history teacher, tells one student.
Chan organized the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, which was held on May 13, to introduce the academy’s students to the world of international law and negotiations.
Earlier in the school year, the students voted on which global issue they wanted.
“Climate change is a good first-year issue,” Chan said, adding that the other choices were nuclear proliferation and the Iran/Iraq war.
At the beginning of the semester, each student was required to research and write a report on a specific country. The students then had to present their findings to their classmates.
These assignments culminated with the mock U.N. conference, where students were told to write and vote on resolutions addressing climate change. The young U.N. members were instructed to vote on the resolutions from the viewpoint of their respective countries.
“They’re really jumping out of the box with this,” said Chan, who started developing a mock U.N. program while studying for his master’s degree at San Francisco State University.
The exercise, he said, is an excellent way to expose his students to other cultures and ways of governing.
Sammy Angulo, representing Mexico, said the conference is “part of what makes Orcutt Academy special.
“I like the process—how all the nations combine and try to stop global warming,” Angulo said.
In its resolution, he said, Mexico proposed using less fossil fuels, planting approximately 250 million more trees, and banning the use of buses and trucks that produce black smoke.
This article appears in May 21-28, 2009.
