Ben King is a teacher, based in Devon, and a regular retweeter of All Our Yesterdays tweets. He kindly agreed to answer some questions…
1. Who are you, what do you do and how/when did you become aware of climate change specifically?
I’m Ben King, born in South Derbyshire 50 years ago, and I probably first heard about changing climates during my undergraduate Environmental Science degree at Stirling University (1991-95). During my soil erosion PhD research at Exeter University (1995-1998) I made no mention of climate change and I don’t remember much focus on the issues. My awareness grew through engagement with other scientists and teachers on Twitter from around 2010. Since then I have done my best to self-educate and also to impart an understanding of climate change to the thousands of students I have taught at Churston Ferrers Grammar School – especially since my involvement with EduCCate Global since 2019.
I was approached by Melanie Harwood of eduCCate Global (via Twitter) in 2019 and she encouraged me and thousands of teachers across the World to take the accredited United Nations courses on Climate Change and to push for whole-school change; this led to my school TLR position as Co-Lead for Sustainability and I also talked (via Zoom) at the COP26 Climate Change conference. Since then, I appeared on local TV with my Year 11s, and I have presented to various interested groups in Devon, from Totnes Town Council, Torbay Council, our local river catchment management group, Devon Youth Parliament and a group of amateur astronomers. My involvement with eduCCate Global also led to a BBC Radio Devon interview, about Climate Change Teachers. Great to get the word out there!
2. What’s been your experience of Climate Twitter- what is useful, what is not so useful….
Climate Twitter is very useful to me, in keeping up to speed with the facts and in tagging resources for my GCSE and A-level lessons in particular. Also for my regular lunchtime Sustainability Club at CFGS. We recently joined-up with another local school and local film-maker Les Veale to show his short film based on Climate Futures and to hold a live Q & A session with George Monbiot.
3. You teach young people – what is your sense of their thoughts, and (how) have their views on climate change evolved over the years you’ve been paying attention?
Most of the children I teach really care about C C, but they feel helpless. In fact, when we study climate change, many of them struggle to focus on the issue; I put this down to their feelings of anxiousness and powerlessness. I therefore focus on positive framing and how everyone can make a positive influence in the World. I am very proud of some of our most active Sustainable Leaders, who have campaigned for reducing meat consumption, for more efficient lighting at school, and many of our younger students have worked with my fellow Sustainability Lead, Jo Parkes, to organise pre-loved Clothes Sales, raising money for environmental charities.
4. Tuba? When? How?
Tuba playing started for me at the age of eight. For over 40 years it has been a brilliant companion and a way for me to switch-off from my academic studies and my teaching. It’s a wonderful way to meet people and it has given me some amazing opportunities.