Turn Down the Heat

I returned from Newcastle yesterday evening after being dropped off at the train station by Diana, with a farewell of "Be good...and if you can't be good, don't get caught!"
This morning the NSW schools were back in session after their mid-year holiday and I got the official tour around the Santa Sabina campus (I loved how there was no cafeteria- instead everyone ate lunch outside on the field. I guess that's another perk for having good weather year round!). Louise graciously let "the American visitor" tag along with her group of friends at lunch and I was immediately interrogated about all the American stereotypes -Jersey Shore (had to insist that it was NOT in fact a good representation of New Jersey citizens), cheerleader/jocks "classification," and a whole range of other things they wanted to know about American TV and movies. They had a good laugh quizzing me on my pronunciation of certain words- apparently 'aluminum' is is pronounced quite differently here!
After lunch I sat in on a lecture at the Edmund Rice center about Kiribati and the effects of climate change. Kiribati is the island nation that is further northeast from the Solomon Islands and because it is only 2-3 meters above sea level it is drastically suffering from the rising ocean waters. The discussion focused on the adolescent involvement in raising awareness for their troubled country and how they were taking advantage of social media, music and TV programs to reach out to the rest of the world. One of the island's local youth group campaigned with a song and music video called "Turn Down the Heat" (a bit ironic after my chilly past couple of days, and made me feel slightly guilty for being wrapped up in electric blankets!). Their goal is to raise awareness to stop global climate change so that their islands are not permanently damaged by flooding and salt water intrusion, which then affects vegetation and human health. The citizens expressed how they didn't want to become environmental refugees and instead wanted to be taken seriously by the policy makers in the UN so that quick and effective measures could be taken to protect their homeland. Heading to that region of the Pacific in a week to the Solomon Islands, I will be curious to see if there are similar concerns and efforts made towards this cause...