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Code Red for Humanity

Afbeelding voor Code Red for Humanity
Code Red for Humanity, says UN Secretary General António Guterres on the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. Echoing the scientists’ findings in that report, UN Secretary General António Guterres said: “If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today’s report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses.”

“How was your summer vacation?” is a question we ask each other on return to school. Most likely you felt the impact of the climate change. As the World Meteorological Organization reported, Central Europe suffered deadly floods and Northern Europe was gripped by an extended heatwave. Furthermore, the climate crisis outlined in the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, led U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to describe it as “code red for humanity”.

As the Montessori Europe Board planned this year’s events, we thought that what could be more important than the future of our world? Our response was to launch a Sustainability Webinar on Sept 8th that will formalise into a Montessori Europe Working Group where educators at all levels can collaborate to share lessons, resources and motivation on Sustainability to preserve our planet, its people and all its life forms.

Maria Montessori found guidance in looking at nature; her works are full of references to following the laws of nature. She believed that nature is the teacher of life (Montessori, 1948) and could guide us in realising our full potential (Montessori, 1949). She submitted that the perils humankind face could be attributed to “going against nature’s laws in the education of the child” (Montessori, 1949: 66).

In this context, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are the challenges of our times and provide a blueprint for peace aligned to Dr Montessori’s work. Montessori saw life and the Earth as comprising a web, with each component being interdependent on the others. She stood up for social justice, human rights, internationalism, scientific thinking, and care of the environment, all of which are goals of the SDGs.

This is the moment for us as Montessorians to support Dr Montessori’s legacy of deep ecology by implementing meaningful actions in our classrooms in response to the climate crisis. These actions will empower our students to contribute to a better future. If you want to take a step to better understanding of sustainability and how to implement its lessons in your classroom, we invite you to participate in the Sustainability Webinar on Sept 8th. To register, click here.

Members of Montessori Europe attending the live webinar can request a certificate of attendance and a recording of the webinar will be made available for members on our website.

Judith Cunningham

Montessori Europe Vice President

 

References

Montessori, M. (1948) The Discovery of the Child

Montessori, M. (1949) The Absorbent Mind