LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) – Climate Action Day addresses solutions to climate change and involves 5 million people in 170 countries, including students from Pine Tree Junior High School. Pine Tree students did their part by planting a tree in Longview.
Pine Tree Junior High School Digital Communications teacher Heather Brantley says her eighth-grade students are part of the Climate Action Project.
Pine Tree Junior High School digital communications teacher Heather Brantley says her eighth-grade students are part of the Climate Action Project: Zoom in and have virtual conversations with students in Asia and other parts of the United States, Brantley said.
The online event also involves world leaders, scientists and artists raising awareness about the climate.
“And this is a way for us to look at, not just the climate that we have here and the impact that we have in our local community, but what that looks like on a global basis,” Brantley said.
Eriyonna Sanders stepped up to read the tree planting instructions to the class. She and the class have learned the benefits of planting.
“It’s going to help more trees grow. Just if more trees are cut down and things like that, there’s always going to be more trees,” Sanders said.
And the students did much more than dig a hole and place a tree. They did some preliminary work before branching out.
“We had a Zoom meeting with Eastman Credit Union,” Brantley said.
That’s where they planted the tree.
“Write the letter for the donation,” Brantley said.
Which came from Longview Home and Garden Center.
“They had to write the media release,” Brantley said.
Which caught my attention.
“So, this was 100 percent given to the students,” Brantley said.
They learned what it takes to make something like that happen, the results of which they now see as a replacement for what the climate can take away.
“A couple of years ago we had quite a few losses due to a snowstorm,” Brantley said.
She says all of this sparked a good conversation within her class. In her future, Eriyonna hopes she is:
“Planting like flowers and stuff,” Sanders said.
And the students think it can help us all breathe easy.
Brantley says that through the Climate Action Project, many trees were planted this week by students around the world. She also says many of her students, including Eriyonna, had never done gardening before.
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