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Northern Climate Change Schools Program International Children's Conference on the Environment Written By: Marie and Andrea Abbott
In total we had 3 workshops and 1 field trip over the four days of the conference. Andrea went to a workshop called "Voices of Nature Choir" with Holly Artzen. At the closing ceremony, the choir sang for all delegates' songs they had learned. I (Andrea) went to Goldstream Provincial Park. There I learned about the watershed and fires. I sprayed foamy water that is used to help put out fires. I saw amazing trees that were huge! I was so excited that I forgot my backpack and my Mom had to go get it for me. We traveled by bus through the city for about 10 minutes until we got to the countryside. Our bus was packed with excited people; I was with Florence (a girl from Quebec) for most of the ride. We went for a walk by the stream and got a professional lady to explain about the watershed. She said that the water came from the nearby mountain by waterfalls and under ground water. We walked to a store and picnic area and got split into two groups. One was when we experimented with the hose and I sprayed it straight up and had a shower! In the other group we got to go on a computer and put out a fire! Everybody loved it and I am sure they are sharing their wonderful stories too. Marie went to a workshop called: INVESTIGATE! WRITE! CLICK! PRINT! -- A workshop on the Environment and the Media. There she created a conference newsletter with a group of other kids. Marie wrote a poem about water. A copy of it is below:
Each day at the UN Conference there was a theme. That theme was discussed in the Friendship Groups. The themes were:
Every day there were presentations on that days topic. Andrea's favorite presentation was about trees, by the kids from Brazil. Every day a child would go to the hospital and give out trees to every baby born. There would be a tag on the tree with instructions on how to take care of it. I think it's great what they are doing, giving children hope and happiness and encouragement about the environment! Marie's favorite presentation was done by a group of girls from Japan. Their project was on recycling milk packs. They had used milk packs to make many things, like baby cribs, murals, and many more. It was a very interesting and informative presentation; I liked it a lot!
Every night for 2 hours we had friendship group. The friendship groups were made up of about 12 kids, and they were named after Endangered Animals. In our groups we came up with challenges on that days topic for World Leaders and people of the world. The challenges will be presented to World Leaders in September 2002 in Johannesburg, South Africa by Justin Friesen from Canada, and Analiz Vergara from Ecuador (both Junior Board Members at ICC 2002). Here is the link to the website with all challenges listed:
My (Marie) friendship group was called Giant Panda. Every night we met in a small classroom, there we talked about ourselves, and where we came from. We also came up with challenges for World Leaders and People of the World. Here are some of my favorite challenges:
It was nice to be with the same group of children, because I was able to form friendships and get to know them better. It was amazing all the things I (Andrea) could learn in only 4 days at the conference. It was a wonderful experience to share my thoughts on the environment and also to hear other children's comments. It was wonderful to see all of the kids and adults that cared about the environment. I learned that you can have fun at the same time as learning and helping the environment!
I think that it is very important that adults make sure they listen to children, no matter how old they are. Our ideas count too, we are going to be the future leaders of tomorrow and we want to have a wonderful, safe and loving world for future generations. Think about it... I (Marie) created a card game with the purpose of teaching other kids about Climate Change and Alternative Energy Usage (mainly focusing on Wind Power). The game is non-competitive and co-operative. There are problem and solution cards, and the objective is to work together and match the cards up. I played my card game with my class at school, the Yukon Conservation Society, and also the Northern Climate Exchange. I had lots of fun creating my card game! I (Andrea) wrote a song about climate change. It was called "the Climate Change Boogie." The Junior Board chose projects to be presented in the mornings. They chose my song to be presented on the climate change day. It was a great experience for me to perform my song in front of over a 1000 people! I was not very nervous beforehand but very excited! When I got on stage it was like I was rehearsing it for my family, but more fun! I split the audience into three sections for my chorus. The song goes like this:
Thank you again to Northern Climate Exchange, Whitehorse Elementary School, and the Yukon Conservation Society for sponsoring us to go to the International Children's Conference on the Environment.
Marie and Andrea Abbott
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From May 21-25, 2002, we were at the 
Marie's fieldtrip was called "Tree-mendous Trees", and it was also to a provincial park. There she went on a 1-hour walk with a park guide and learned many new things about trees and their inhabitants.
My (Andrea) friendship group was named the Gila Monsters, the only poisonous lizard in North America. My leaders names were Mary-Joe, Laura and Dev. Steffania and Heinz from Colombia and Dina from India were a few of the kids in my friendship group. A girl from Africa named Rhazia called water life.
Going to this Conference on the Environment was one of those experiences that I (Marie) will never forget. Not just the fact that over 450 kids and their chaperones had gathered from all over the world to discus our Environment, but also that people had cared enough to take the time, effort, and money to host the conference.
To follow up from this conference I have offered to visit Brownie and Guide groups to teach them my song about climate change, and participate in a primite rug hooking project. I am also trying to organize a program similar to the one I described earlier which was presented by children from Brazil at the conference. I would like to see a tree planted for every baby born in the Yukon. This will teach children that they can make a difference and take care of the environment.