Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 11/01) - Youth in the North are concerned about climate change. Sort of.

The Arctic Energy Alliance recently surveyed 775 students across the NWT in grades five to 12 about environmental problems such as climate change. While 87 per cent said they feel a personal responsibility to protect the environment, less than half were willing to participate in school or community-based environmental projects.

Students in grades 10 to 12 and those from Yellowknife were the most educated about climate change. Strangely, this group was also the least interested in helping out.

Arctic Energy representative Craig Yeo said youth outside of Yellowknife generally feel more connected to their communities, which makes them willing to get involved.

"In Yellowknife, you can have anonymity, if you want it," he said.

He added that youth, like other Canadians, do not link their own actions to effects on the environment.

"The attitude is: isn't this a terrible thing, why don't they stop doing it?"

Yeo also suggested that student's apathy may result from the "cool factor."

But, according to the study, students aren't too cool to trust their educators. More than 60 per cent said the best way to learn about global warming is through their teachers. Still, just 39 per cent recall hearing, seeing or reading anything about climate change in the past year.

And though 73 percent of students can identify fossil fuel combustion as the main culprit, more than one-third suggest that global warming will "be OK or good for the environment." NWT youth are also unlikely to know anyone who actively reduces their use of fossil fuels or controls their energy use.

TJ Buggins, a Grade 8 student at Weledeh Catholic school, said he can't remember working on any environmental projects and he's not interested in doing so.

"It's not really my subject," he said.

Perhaps the new science curriculum will inspire students.

According to Steven Daniel, math and science co-ordinator for the Department of Education, the curriculum will be phased in over several years and place a strong emphasis on climate change.