Elizabethtown College hosted 30 local high school students for the second annual on-campus Climate Action Simulation on Wednesday, March 13.
Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 Honors Program students traveled from nine participating school districts, including Donegal, Elizabethtown, Conestoga Valley, Ephrata, Hempfield, Lebanon, Palmyra, Warwick, and Easter Lancaster County-ELANCO, to take part in an interactive, fun role-playing game focused on exploring solutions needed to act on climate change.
“The event helps students understand system dynamics and the complex interconnections between each decision or policy in the simulation as many policy changes, on their own, do not produce sweeping effects in our climate future,” Elizabethtown College Professor of Engineering and Physics and event facilitator, Kurt DeGoede said. “While the challenge is daunting, most students complete the simulation feeling hopeful as we work toward a possible path of limiting global warming to less than 2° C within the model.”
Students acted as influential stakeholder groups convened at an emergency climate summit organized by the United Nations. Participants in the simulated summit worked to establish a concrete plan to limit global warming by bringing together government, business, and civil society representatives.
The experience left participants feeling empowered to address climate change with one student from Hempfield High School remarking, “I learned a lot about my community and my environment, and I want to do more research on helping it.”
The Climate Action Simulation has been played nearly 8,000 times in 142 countries by a wide range of audiences, from high school students and community members to industry professionals and policymakers.
“The students fully embraced their roles during the simulation,” Elizabethtown College Associate Professor of Engineering and Physics Brenda Read-Daily said. “They did a fantastic job researching, negotiating, and presenting their policy proposals. It was rewarding to see them engage with the simulation so energetically.”
