In classrooms across rural Asia, school children are pretending to be climate change bringing chaos to their community. They throw pieces of paper at maps of their villages drawn on the floor, symbolizing how vulnerable the houses are to earthquakes, landslides or floods.
As the paper floats to the ground, children in the “community team” gather together to discuss how they could have prevented the damage and how they will react in the future — when the weather will be even more extreme and unpredictable due to climate change.
They’re playing Act to Adapt, a game designed by Plan International in collaboration with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Climate Center. So far the game has been introduced in classrooms across Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Thailand. Without even realizing, children — some of whom are illiterate — are learning about climate concepts such as preparedness and probability.
About the author
Morgan Meaker
Morgan Meaker is a London-based freelance journalist. She writes for Reuters, the Guardian and the BBC among others. She covers human rights, development and sustainable business at home and abroad.
