Put climate change in the curriculum
ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness is sweeping the nation. Politicians, vacation destinations, and college campuses all try to attract people with talk of carbon footprints, carbon offsets, and carbon neutrality. And the movement has been fueled by the SIGG-carrying, bike-riding portion of the population - in other words, by young adults.
But while environmental responsibility has become a top concern for colleges, the time has come to make climate change a more prominent subject of earlier schooling as well.
The point of climate-change education isn't that students should be able to spout carbon-emissions facts as they hug trees and recycle everything within reach (though they may do much of that after learning the facts).
As climate change becomes more and more dire, it affects every aspect of our lives: social, political, physical, and economic. Recognizing this, the G-8 summit culminated in a commitment by the major industrial nations to a 50 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
But how can we ever achieve that change if today's secondary- and elementary-school students lack the tools to understand the problem and build solutions?
On the broadest level, students need to understand the science behind climate change and recognize that although the science continues to become more refined, we can act now with the information we have. Students need to become more familiar with the general strategies we will use to lessen the impacts of climate change. Perhaps most importantly, students need to learn to think creatively about climate change, since innovative solutions will be necessary for one of the most challenging problems of our time.
Climate change is a quickly evolving phenomenon, so instructional materials and specific curricula may become dated quickly. Some groups, such as the National Wildlife Federation, have compiled materials for teachers to use within their existing curriculums, which is the only feasible way to approach climate-change education: to incorporate it into a variety of subjects.
Here in Massachusetts, the Youth Climate Action Network (a group in which I participate), made up of schools and groups from all over the state, is organizing a public hearing on climate-change education. The network is made up of students, educators, community organizers, and others. Members are working together to define the specific lessons and skills that could become part of the state-mandated curriculum.
Environmental responsibility has become such a hot topic for college-bound high school students that the Sustainable Endowments Institute has published the "College Sustainability Report Card" for the past two years. It grades 200 schools' policies in categories such as green building, transportation, food services, and recycling. ("Sustainability leader" Middlebury College offers locally grown berries.) In August, Congress passed the Higher Education Sustainability Act, providing grants to colleges and universities to encourage academic programs that address sustainability, and to help campuses become more energy-efficient.
It's not just the attraction of "green" campuses that motivates high school students, it's also the desire to be prepared for green jobs. The growth of the "green-collar" job market makes climate-change education a necessity. With the creation of the state's Clean Energy Technology Center, more than $2 million is being invested in workforce development in the clean-energy sector. Boston alone is spending a quarter of a million dollars on local green-collar training.
But the need for environmental education goes way beyond green-collar jobs.
The Boston City Council's Committee on Education sees climate-change education as a critical step toward shaping students into responsible citizens, and crucial in the switch to a green economy. There is the No Child Left Inside Act, a bill now waiting for a vote in the US House. The measure would authorize $500 million in grants to states for professional development and programs in environmental and outdoor education.
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley has already jumped on the solar-powered bandwagon, announcing in April that he would be creating the Children in Nature Partnership to advise him on creating a statewide plan. So where's ours?
Among all proposed educational reforms, climate-change education is a time-sensitive issue that needs to be acted upon immediately.
Queen Arsem-O'Malley, a Boston Latin senior, was a Ward Fellow with the Globe editorial page this summer. 