When I was in fourth grade, an environmentally concerned teacher taught my class this song, “Pollution, pollution, you can use the newest toothpaste, then rinse your mouth with industrial waste!” It was funny and catchy and decades later, I still remember the words, the tune, and the environmental lesson embedded in the song. In a similar spirit I created Shine, a mini-musical performance for 4th-12th grade students that uses theatre to explore issues of sustainability. It weaves climate science and artistic expression into a funny and powerful story that spans three hundred million years of geological time to convey the relationship between energy, humanity, and climate. Rehearsing each song in this half-hour musical immerses youth in the issues surrounding climate and energy and leads participants in embodying different aspects of climate science and human development that brought us to this point– where our use of fossil fuels is impacting our climate. The first half of the show is professionally scripted, composed, and choreographed to tell the story that has already been told by history. The second half—our future story– is made up of skits authored by local youth to generate solutions for their community’s sustainability challenges. A final song and dance celebrates this achievement and embeds the spirit of commitment into the catchy tune that students will be singing for perhaps decades to come. Read more in Journal of Sustainability Education ...