Climate Literacy Can Empower Climate Action
CLIMATE IMPACT, CONSERVATION APRIL 5, 2023
Today’s young people are living through a constant barrage of climate disasters ranging from heat waves to hurricanes, but most are not taught in school why it’s happening and what can be done about it. Growing up in an age of eco-anxiety, climate change is already shaping their futures, where they can live, the kind of jobs they’ll do, and their quality of life.
Not a priority in school curriculums
Students are not learning about climate change in school because it has not been a priority in our educational systems. In a recent UN study of 100 countries, nearly half (47%) of national education curriculums did not have a reference to climate change. The countries most likely to teach about climate change are in the most vulnerable regions.
In the U.S., more than 86 percent of teachers and 84 percent of parents support climate change education but the curriculum is minimal in many state middle school science standards. About half of middle school science teachers either don’t teach climate change or spend less than two hours a year on it, according to the National Center for Science Education. And many other educators want to teach climate change but have not received professional training and don’t feel properly equipped to do so.
There are, however, some glimmers of hope. In 2020, New Jersey became the first state to embed climate change throughout the curriculum. Students now learn about climate change starting in kindergarten and it’s integrated across multiple subjects including art, social studies, world languages and PE.
Education can help drive new behaviors
Climate researchers say that strengthening climate education and engagement is one of the key social tipping points to be able to stabilize the climate by 2050. When young people are educated, they develop personal connections to climate change solutions that may change their lifelong behaviors. In one study, college students who took a class about reducing their carbon footprint tended to adopt and stick with environment-friendly habitsover many years.
Climate literacy education operates on many levels. It increases awareness about the urgency of the problem, empowers people to take action by reducing their carbon footprint or advocating for climate policies, gives people hope about successful solutions, improves their ability to communicate about climate change, and promotes critical thinking to solve climate challenges. It also can inspire students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields related to climate change as we need to prepare a new generation of innovators, scientists, and policymakers.
Advocating for climate literacy on Earth Day
It’s no surprise that one of the key initiatives of EarthDay.org is its Climate and Environmental Literacy campaign. The program advocates for every student around the world to receive fully integrated, assessed climate and environmental education coupled with strong civic engagement. An educated and engaged population is the world’s best chance for overcoming the climate crisis by building a green consumer market, creating jobs, and empowering citizens to engage with their governments.
Some ideas to improve climate literacy
Bring climate education into schools at every level to prepare students to understand how climate change happens, the impact in their community and the world, and what actions they can take to make a difference. You can learn more and support the Earthday.org Climate and Environmental Literacy
Organize community education programs, workshops, and online courses about regional issues like renewable energy, regional climate policy, and climate adaptation to sea level rise, heat waves or fire risk.
Teach in interesting and engaging ways. Climate change can be a difficult topic to understand, but engaging storytelling can help people grasp its complexities. This can reach broad audiences through inspiring stories in a major motion picture like Avatar, or the documentary films by David Attenborough. On a smaller scale, complex subjects become more understandable through documentary films like Thirst for Power, Earthday.org tips to take action, Protect Our Winters (POW)Instagram channel, or through small nuggets of insights in the Power Over Energy daily Facebook posts.
By promoting climate literacy, we can inform, engage, and empower all people to join together to tackle our global climate crisis.
Learn more @ Earthday.org