Questions from St. Ann

Question 1 to 8 out of 13

01. Question 1

Asked by: St. Ann | Basel 1

If you could choose anyone in the world to be your special climate hero or role model, who would it be?

My hero is someone who never gives up!!!! My hero is someone who doesn't care what other people say! My hero is someone who motivates other people to do act!!

Today our special hero is Martina who had the idea to write letters to our politicians. Politicians usualy just talk and talk and talk but we want them to act. So Martina started a campaign. Together with the people from myclimate she found enough young people to write a letter to each member of the swiss parliament: On the 31st of May the houses of the Federal Parliament will open the summer session in Bern and on the agenda: The National Council will take up the question of just how much Switzerland should reduce its CO2 emissions. There are a wide range of proposals, from 10 to 40 percent of 1990 levels by 2020. With our letters we want them to show how important it is to act! to be courageous! to be a climate hero: We hope they read our letters and we hope they listen to what we say.

02. Question 2

Asked by: St. Ann | Basel 1

Magic Johnson said: “I believe in the power of heroes. What is a hero? There are as many different answers to that question as there are people in the world, and that’s a good thing: we need different kinds of role models for different kinds of people. I personally think a hero is a leader who has a positive impact on people. A hero is someone who acts and through those actions changes the world.” – Tell me your definition of a hero.

a hero is someone who never gives up. If I think about the topic of climate change I mean that it is urgent to see that also a little step is one step further.

03. Question 3

Asked by: St. Ann | Basel 1

A group of students thought it would be great to collect portraits of climate heros from all over the world. That’s what they say: “If we show people that if those local climate heros can make the effort, then anybody can. Let them see that what they are doing is rapidly becoming the norm, not the exception. Your climate heros don’t need to be famous. We’d like to show people just like you and me – with the little difference that they care. The goal is to realize an impressive exhibition of portraits from all over the world.”

a) What are the most important things people in your country need to change in order to become climate heros?

b) Some participants of this projects don’t like the word “hero”. Which other words could we use instead?

In our country we produce a lot of co2 emissions by heating our houses. if the walls are not thick enough a lot of hot air goes lost for nothing. In our country people have to many cars and they are too lazy to walk. People say that they need big cars because of the mountains - but honestly: most people don't go to the mountain that often. My third point is that people eat too much meat. cows produce a lot of methane and the food they eat grows on acres which where rainforests some years ago. So for me a Swiss Climate Hero is a person who doesn't eat meat, loves her bicycle and lives in a newly renovated house which isn't overheated (in winter you don't need to walk around in a t-shirt: there are lots of nice and warm clothes one could wear)

04. Question 4

Asked by: St. Ann | Basel 1

In 1992, at the age of 12, Severn Cullis-Suzuki and her friends traveled to 1992’s Rio Earth Summit, where she gave a powerful speech that deeply affected the leaders who heard it. She became known as “The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes.” She hasn’t stopped since, starting several groups and projects and becoming a dynamic, luminous light in a new generation of eco-leaders. She says: “Each individual really does count. And the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized that each person is a role model to all the people around us. That's how cultures evolve and things become cool--the influence of a few individuals that catches on.”

What change can YOU make?

I think our project of writing letters to the politicians is a good example. Two classes from Thun ( a nice town close to the mountains, a town with a lovely lake) could even meet a famous politician (see picture) and this politician promised to tell everyone to fight for the protection of our climate. There was even an article on it in the newspaper: so everyone can read about what she promised.

Now it is your turn to compile the questions 5 until 8. Carefully consider the best way of posing the questions in order to gain the best possible insight into the everyday views of your partner class.