Transforming Environmental Education with AimHi Earth
AimHi Earth is the education to action hub that seeks to transform understanding of the climate and nature crisis through online and in person courses. They also work to further the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. They have world-class leaders and University collaborations on board with their many ongoing projects.
In an exclusive interview Archie Crofton - Science Communicator for AimHi Earth, discussed the importance of creating courses on sustainable development and bringing the climate change discourse in centre. Archie is a science communicator with an MSC in History of Science from the University of Barcelona and BSC in Ecological sciences from the University of Edinburgh.
AimHi has gained a lot of publicity owing to its incredible work in sustainability. How was this platform conceptualised? What was the main inspiration behind it?
“We are living in a chaotic time where every day there are more stories about the climate crisis in our news and media, yet only four percent of young people feel well informed about the subject. Tired clichés, stats upon graphs upon charts without a coherent or useful narrative have left people paralysed by confusion and vulnerable to misinformation.
What we, at AimHi, are setting out to do is to cut through the noise, laying out a coherent road map on the climate and nature crisis that gives people ownership over the issue, empowering them to take real action on climate change.”
AimHi has put together courses developed with world-class leaders. What makes your classes so unique and separates them from the rest of the environmental projects? How challenging was it to create a top-notch course with leaders across the globe?
“One of the most exciting things about creating AimHi Earth is that our courses have had such a refreshing snowball effect. As soon as we have reached out to people about what we are doing, they have been incredibly positive and excited to get on board.
In part, this is probably due to the fact that our lessons are live and interactive, so those who have done the course get really involved with and invested in it. Facing the crisis can feel lonely and overwhelming. It’s unsrurprising that a Friends of the Earth poll found that 70% of young people aged 18-24 are experiencing eco-anxiety regularly.
So, going through the lessons, live, alongside hundreds or sometimes thousands of people can make you feel like you aren’t just one individual facing a scary and uncertain future alone. Instead you feel like part of a community, working together to turn things around. It’s a really powerful journey. When you get that kind of momentum going from four one-hour sessions over as many weeks it catapults people into action. It’s incredibly uplifting to see how many brilliant people are as excited as we are about empowering others to take action on the climate and nature crisis.”
What are some of the environmental courses and projects that you are particularly proud of? How relevant do you think they will be in the coming years?
“This summer we were thrilled to be working with Team GB athletes right before they headed off to Tokyo for the Olympic Games. We partnered with the amazing team at Champions 4 Earth and Oly Earth + to create an Athlete Climate Session looking at the role of elite sport within environmental sustainability.
Essentially it was a one-hour masterclass, designed for Team GB, to equip athletes with the key climate concepts and communication skills ahead of the Games. Bringing together top-level scientists, Olympians (past and present), educators, behavioural psychologists and expert communicators to create an uplifting and solutions-focused climate course for athletes. We know that athletes have an enormous platform, so if we can empower them to become the messengers for this topic, helping to activate members of the public, we can make massive progress very rapidly.
We’re really proud of this collaboration and hope to continue to work on projects like this, reaching outside of the echo chamber for maximum impact, into the future.”
What do you think is the most significant challenge in environmental sustainability today? How do we tackle those?
“What we are so keen to emphasise with our courses is that the solutions to the climate and nature crisis are already out there. There are tangible, concrete actions that we can be taking right now at both a systemic and individual level that can and will have a huge role in tackling the crisis. That’s why we are so passionate about our courses which focus on solutions and how each of us can make a difference.”
What advice do you have for students to get more involved in environmental sustainability and make a difference individually?
“Stay hopeful, the answers to this crisis are here, what we need is action to make it happen. With hope we can be inspired to take action, and in so doing that only leads to inspiring others and instilling more hope - creating a positive feedback loop that will lead to a better future for everyone.
These actions can be as simple as talking to other people about the crisis. Spreading the word can be one of the most powerful actions we can take. Anyone can be inspired for a moment, but to make a real, tangible difference we need people to be constantly talking about this - this crisis isn’t going away and the more we have people talking about it the more likely people will stay on track to make change happen.
Also, get in touch! We now have a vibrant digital community sharing ideas, resources and plans on our social media pages. We hope you’ll join us there.”
By Prerna Deep