Environmental Education: an essential climate tool
Climate change, although a constantly growing threat, is continually ignored by generation after generation. Even though wildfires continue to rage, species continue to go extinct and the global temperatures continue to rise, our society has fallen into a habit of assigning the next generation to the responsibility of restoring the environment and reversing the detriments of a warming planet. This neglect, though, only worsens the problem and makes it more difficult to overcome climate-related hurdles in the future. We need to take effective action. We need to make the environment a priority. We need to work together as a world to increase our chances of maintaining a vibrant and ecologically diverse planet. One of the best ways we can accomplish these goals is through environmental education in schools.
Environmental education for adolescents is impactful because it introduces students to the current discussion about climate change, the policies and legislation involved, and the ways in which we can coordinate global action. According to Columbia Climate School, a study conducted by Lancet, a peer-reviewed science journal, “survey[ed] 10,000 young people ages 16 to 25 in 10 countries [and] found that more than half felt sadness, anxiety, anger and guilt about climate change”. Young generations are clearly concerned about the environment. Environmental education in schools will harness preexisting care and concern for the environment and direct it towards something actionable, something constructive. “We really need to pick up speed because otherwise we will have a whole generation of students who will graduate with this climate anxiety and will not know what to do because they have not been prepared by our education systems,” says director of the education sector at Columbia Climate School’s Center for Sustainable Development Radhika Iyengar. Through lessons in school, students can learn about the intricacies and dimensions involved in climate change. Maybe these students will go on to engineer the next greatest wind turbine. Maybe these teenagers will write the next bill for climate regulation and protection. Maybe they will become the next experts on habitat destruction. Even if students do not pursue an environment-related career, they will still walk away with an understanding of their individual responsibility of protecting our planet. Students already understand the gravity of the situation, but schools can help spark innovation and creativity for future sustainable developments by discussing the relevance, impact and solutions to climate change.
Environmental education can also have a significant impact when it goes beyond the lessons in science class and displays the variety of interdisciplinary connections to climate change. This can ultimately grab the attention of a wider variety of students and stress the fact that we all must take action, not only scientists and researchers. Schools can introduce climate change as a multi-faceted issue by incorporating sustainability-based lessons in multiple core curriculum subject areas. New Jersey, for example, requires that climate change be taught across all subjects. Yen-Yen Chiu, a middle school teacher with a background in language arts and algebra, developed essential curricula for New Jersey, so that the state could uphold the requirements of this mandate. Chiu says that climate change is not only a scientific problem, but “also a social, political and economic problem. By incorporating climate change into all subjects, the students will develop a strong set of skills that will allow them to apply their knowledge in the real world, including problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, negotiation and more.” Climate change education can be particularly impactful when it engages students across multiple disciplines.
Although a few more states have followed New Jersey’s lead by mandating climate change education, we still have much progress to make. Through climate change education, we can foster a new generation equipt to solve the problems past generations have created. Let’s make this world a cleaner and greener place.
Contacts:
Columbia Climate School: https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2023/02/09/climate-education-in-the-u-s-where-it-stands-and-why-it-matters/
New Jersey Educators Association: https://www.njea.org/educators-integrate-climate-change-instruction-into-the-classroom/#:~:text=With%20the%20implementation%20of%20the,a%20cleaner%2C%20more%20sustainable%20future.