Rethinking Climate Change Education Everyone wants it, but what is it?
By Rosalyn McKeown and Charles Hopkins L warming and El Nino1
AST MONTH, NASA ISSUED A REPORT that predicted 2010 would likely end up as the warmest year on record, due to the combination of global . Because the vast majority of climate
scientists agree that the earth’s climate is warming, many organizations and individuals are calling for the implementa- tion of climate change education. Though no one doubts the importance of education in both ameliorating (i.e. lessening) and adapting to this ostensibly man-made phenomenon, there is no agreement of what climate change education is or should be. In reviewing climate change curriculums and Internet
sites, we notice that much of the early work was done by scientists as well as science and geography teachers (CISH- DGC, 2002). We applaud their efforts. While science and geography are reasonable starting points, we know climate change, like so many other sustainability issues, has social, economic, environmental, and political roots. As a result, climate change education should also reflect this complexity.
Through systematic scientific investigation, we have
known the causes of most environmental problems for several decades. Similarly, the effect of increasing levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been known for years. However, this science-based knowledge has not brought about policy changes, legislation, or wide-spread behavior changes that are required to adequately address climate change. Solutions to climate change will require engaging the social sciences, in order to develop the societal understandings, cultural keys, and political will that are needed for change to occur. As we look at the history of education, we see a number
of examples where natural science education alone fell short of creating desired changes. For example, sex education that only taught the anatomy of human reproduction did not lower the pregnancy rate. Anti-smoking education that focused solely on naming the toxic and carcinogenic components of tobacco smoke did not reduce smoking. We know from years of experience in environmental education that knowledge and awareness alone do not bring about large-scale societal
GREEN TEACHER 89 Page 17
Illustrations: Tom Goldsmith
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