About this fundraiser:

Journey Away Climate Disasters field study is a 12 week Project-Based-Learning (PBL) course that includes a 10-day field study, studying climate disasters in Vermont (Hurricane Irene, 2011), New York City (Hurricane Sandy, 2012) and New Orleans (Hurricanes Katrina, 2005 and Ida, 2021). Participants will travel by train from NYC to New Orleans. Open to 15 participants, none of which will be turned away due to lack of personal funds.

Students will hear first hand how climate disasters have impacted various communities by collecting oral histories and seeing what communities have done to mitigate disasters. During the field study students will have the benefit of engaging with people from different backgrounds and exploring their own cultural context as they move through remarkably different cities.

Upon returning to Vermont, students will spend the remainder of the spring semester collecting oral histories from local people who experienced Hurricane Irene, learning about local mitigation strategies and exploring other ways in which the changing climate impacts our area. Developing knowledge, skills, and leadership to enact change, student participants will become empowered to contribute to the vitality of their communities.

Students at Leland & Gray Union High School in Townshend, Vermont lack access to many kinds of opportunity. Townshend is located in rural Windham county and Leland & Gray is deemed a Title 1 school, with over 48% of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch. There is little racial, ethnic or cultural diversity limiting the scope of possibilities for students’ futures. Students also experience anxiety and feel a sense of hopelessness because of the increase in climate disasters, experienced first hand in 2011, when Hurricane Irene wreaked havoc on local communities. The climate crisis and the increasingly dramatic shift in seasonal temperatures gives students concern about the future of the planet.

This project hopes to ameliorate some of this anxiety by offering community minded strategies and solutions to combat the climate crisis.

Your donations will help pay for:

• Transportation
• Meals
• Lodging
• Incidentals