flooding or drought. Will all of these people relocate in neighboring states and countries? History has repeatedly shown that when people from different cultures are forced together, dis- similarity creates tension that can lead to distrust, which often escalates to hatred and violence. To prevent this escalation, part of climate change education should include preparing some people to leave their communities and preparing others to accept the refugees. This will require a high level of intercultural skills and competence. Students who go on
international exchange programs receive cul- tural-sensitivity training, as do the people who host them. Similar efforts to raise intercultural competencies will be needed before major migrations occur.
Behavior change
Lessening climate change will require widespread voluntary action by the public. We know that dozens of daily activities contribute to an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmo- sphere. Daily decisions about what we eat, how we go to work, what we do for recreation, etc., have an impact on the amount of carbon dioxide we contribute to the atmosphere. For the public to reduce CO2
production in their personal
lives, we need to create awareness and, more importantly, a willingness to act. In the past, education for behavior change has occurred
primarily in the field of psychology, and in the preparation of public health workers and other professionals who engage in individual and larger-scale change. However, with rela- tively large scale changes looming before us, perhaps it is time to teach elements of behavior change to everyone. Behavior change would then become an intentional process to both alter individual habits and actions, and work effec- tively with others toward a common goal. A number of tools for social and behavioral change
exist. For example, social marketing recognizes and addresses the complexity of changing human behaviors (McKenzie-Mohr & Smith, 1999). Generally, social market- ing is a process of: uncovering barriers to and benefits of a particular behavior, building commitment, prompting desir- able behavior, modeling and establishing norms, providing incentives to enhance motivation to act, and removing exter- nal barriers. We could benefit greatly by extracting lessons from previously successful campaigns to change behavior (e.g., anti-smoking and anti-litter).
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Integrating climate and
change education In climate change educa- tion, climate and change are both important and interrelated. It is equally important that the change element is informed by the climate element, and the climate element is taught mindful of the social and economic consequences and com- plexities of change. These two elements—climate and change—cannot be separated, taught independently, and later woven together at an undetermined time or point in the curriculum. We cannot expect stu- dents to make linkages
between the climate and change elements. The interconnec- tions must be overtly and purposefully taught.
ESD: the best framework
We expect that a great deal of effort will be placed on defin- ing climate change education. We think it is best addressed through the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) framework. ESD has four thrusts: (1) access to and retention in quality basic education, (2) reorienting existing education programs to address sustainability, (3) increasing public awareness and training, and (4) providing training for employees in all sectors of the economy (i.e., public and private). Although many of the current discussions on climate change education revolve around curricular change within the second “reorienting” thrust, climate change will effect far more than curricular issues within educational systems. For example, climate change affects children’s access to and retention in basic education as a result of poverty, migration, disease, and other factors. It will take good governance and policy implementation to deal with these issues within educational systems. In the western world, climate change also will require school boards to consider the carbon footprint of such actions as school construction and renovation, purchasing, transportation, and breakfast and lunch programs. Like ESD, climate change education should be locally
relevant and culturally appropriate. Communities around the world will be facing different expressions of climate change. Each community has its own environmental, social, economic and political contexts. As a result, climate change education will look different in each community. One size will not fit all. Teachers in every discipline can contribute to climate
change education. Students arrive at school with many different skills and interests and it is the teachers’ responsi-
GREEN TEACHER 89
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