How Action-Based Climate Education Can Help Youth Become Part of Development
But what exactly is “climate learning”? What are the ABCs, grammar and vocabulary, of climate change?
The UN and other leading international organizations have identified education at all levels and at all levels as a key strategy to combat the climate crisis. The world is facing the fastest transition in history to clean energy and sustainable infrastructure, and the workforce represents the people with the skills to do the necessary climate mitigation and adaptation work. Communities also need improved citizens to reverse fuel targets. But right now, few states have comprehensive climate education, and many of the courses that do exist are confined to science classrooms — lacking in areas like justice and solutions.
The Colorado Seal of Climate Learning, which high school graduates can earn through a combination of coursework and extracurricular projects, is one effort to build support for broader climate education. Another attempt was shown in late September. The US Global Change Research Program, with input from organizations including the State Department, NASA and the Department of Transportation, released a document called “Learning and Learning about Climate: Key Principles for Understanding and Coping with Climate Change.”
The definition of climate learning that its authors arrived at, after 21 months of work, includes eight important principles that I summarize here:
- How we know: climate science, interdisciplinary observations and modelling
- Climate change: greenhouse gases are changing the world’s climate
- Causes: burning of fossil fuels and other human activities
- Impacts: threats to human health and ecosystems
- Equity: climate justice
- Adaptation: habitat, built, natural
- Mitigation: reduce carbon emissions, net zero by 2050
- Hope and urgency: “A vibrant and sustainable future for everyone is possible through swift, just, and transformative climate action.”
During NYC Climate Week, many teachers crowded the basement of the grand marble Museum of the American Indian, in downtown Manhattan, to hear about the new guide. At the front of the room was Frank Niepold, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He has been a climate educator for the federal government for 30 years, and has been as involved as anyone to help this effort see the light of day. “This is a guide for teachers, coordinators and decision makers,” he said. “We don’t just talk to classroom teachers.”
This guide is technically the third edition. The first appeared in 2008, during the administration of George W. Bush; it was quickly revised in 2009 when President Barack Obama took office. Then the Trump administration came along, and, in Nieold’s words, the thinking was, “Don’t try to do this really complicated thing at that time.” Efforts restarted after Joe Biden was elected president, many new staff members who came in as part of the Appropriations Act gave input on the new guidelines—and now we are here.
Niepold said that since the 2000s, there have been many changes in our collective understanding of both the problem and the solutions. “Previously, this document was called ‘fundamental principles of climate science,'” he said. “We knew that was too little. We wanted something to put you into action, not just an understanding.”
Still, earlier versions of the text had an impact: They informed the Next Generation Science Standards, one version of which is now used in 48 states. The previous guide is also integrated with K-12 and college curriculum and museum and park exhibits.
With the new program, Niepold hopes to see more impact. The guidance is unusually clear and accessible in a government report. The pages are laid out as a textbook, containing artwork that presents some of the core themes of climate knowledge – as defined in the report – such as climate justice and indigenous knowledge and indigenous knowledge (plural s objective).
“Success means it will use all forms of education, all levels, in all fields,” both outside the United States and within it, Niepold said. He wants to see prominent NGOs take climate education as part of their vision – like Planet Ed at the Aspen Institute, where, disclosure, I’m a consultant.
Niepold would like to see community-based climate efforts take community outreach and workforce development seriously, as well as to see media coverage promote a full picture of climate literacy. “The success is: People, no matter where they come from, understand [climate change] and talk about it.”
Her concern is similar to that of Aisha O’Neil in Colorado: that young people are currently learning about climate change primarily through the media, in a way that is not solution-oriented, emotionally supportive, or trauma-informed. “That chance of being blindsided is huge,” Nieold said. That is why the eighth goal of the guide combines urgency and hope. O’Neil said:
“Teaching about problems in a way that emphasizes solutions means telling our youth that they can be part of progress and that the world is not doomed.”
Developing courses to meet the deadline takes time. Even in New Jersey, which is recognized as a national leader in overall standards of state-level climate education, educators have shared concerns about a lack of resources and training. Mary Seawell, whose organization Lyra campaigned for the climate literacy logo in Colorado, said her group wants to take a student-led approach at the grassroots level. “We want to show the need. What SEAL does is to create an opportunity for young people to direct their studies.”
To earn a climate studies certification, Colorado students must take at least one science class in high school — currently not a standard graduation requirement — and at least one class that satisfies the climate studies criteria. They should also participate in some form of extracurricular learning or activity. “This is opt-in,” said Colorado Sen. Chris Hansen, who co-sponsored the legislation. “The government cannot tell the districts which classes they should do. This is for districts that want to have something that is easily visible throughout the province and beyond.”
O’Neil, who is a freshman at the University of Colorado Boulder, said this is a good start. His group of students at the college is campaigning for new standards for the government’s curriculum. “This is the only logical next step. ” he said. Although the climate seal of Literacy encourages learning about the climate, “we need everyone to read, not just those who are out of their way.”
O’Neil thinks students could especially benefit from teaching climate action, something she has had to experience on her own, with some coaching from her debate coach and state legislators. Planet Ed, for the first time, recently released a Youth Climate Guide with the Nature Conservancy that covers many areas of climate learning, from mitigation to adaptation to justice.
“I feel like in an ideal world we would learn how climate affects every aspect of our lives,” O’Neil said. “Not just science, but social justice. The policy positions that created it, and the policies that can take us out. My goal right now will be for the students to get to the point where they feel they are not intimidated by the critical weather, but empowered by it.”
Contact this story’s editor, Caroline Preston, at 212-870-8965 or [email protected].
