t long last, the climate crisis is widely accepted as the defining challenge of our times, and young people are at the forefront of demanding urgent action from world leaders. However, our education systems are still lagging far behind what is needed to equip and empower young people and support them in moving from activism to action.
A recent review by Education International (‘EI’) of 73 countries’ updated Nationally Determined Contributions—the national action plans mandated by the Paris Accord that set out each nation’s pathways for reducing emissions and adapting to climate change—and found that none of them “made the grade.” For example, only 18% specifically mention CCE, and of these not one calls for CCE to be based on science.
These findings are echoed by a survey of 10,000 young people aged 16 to 25, from 10 countries around the world including Brazil, India, Nigeria, and the US, to be published in the Lancet Planetary Health. The survey found that although nearly 60% of respondents reported feeling extremely or very worried about the impact of climate change on their lives, only 31% believed that governments were “doing enough to avoid catastrophe.” Indeed 65% expressed the view that Governments were “failing young people” and 58% that they “were betraying me/future generations.”
For the world’s education systems to become catalysts for effective action to address the climate crisis, they need to first adopt a cross-disciplinary approach that explores the causes and effects of man-made climate change on human society and the Earth’s ecosystems. Such an approach must be firmly rooted in science and underscore the overwhelming scientific consensus that exists around the topic. In addition, it must adaptively carry on throughout the K-12 education cycle.
Education systems should not stop at simply highlighting the extent and severity of the climate crisis. Indeed, as the survey discussed above reveals, young people are already acutely aware of the seriousness of the challenge facing the world. Moreover, as the same survey highlights, concerns about the climate crisis are causing psychological distress amongst young people with 75% reporting that “the future is frightening” and 56% believing that “humanity is doomed.” It is therefore incumbent on our education systems to also shine a light on available solutions to the climate crisis and to inject of a realistic but nevertheless hopeful sense of what can be achieved during the lifetimes of today’s young people. Such a solutions-oriented approach should again be firmly grounded in science, emphasizing the absence of a magic bullet, and highlighting the need for both technological and behavioral changes, many of which can be implemented in the present, and need not involve the wholesale disavowal of technological civilization. In this regard the writings of Vaclav Smil are particularly instructive and can provide a framework to think analytically and practically about addressing climate change.
Education systems must also provide young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively transition to the workplace and to seize the opportunities that are becoming available as the world embarks on the green industrial revolution that is taking place in response to climate change. Beyond placing greater emphasis on the STEM subjects, (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education systems should do more to incorporate project-based learning and entrepreneurship into their pedagogies and curricula. The good news is that the green industrial revolution will require invention and innovation across almost all activities and sectors of the economy from agriculture to zoning regulations and everything in between. Moreover, unlike the information technology revolution which employs relatively few people and requires proportionally little capital, transitioning to a net zero carbon economy will require significant long-term investments to create new, and adapt existing infrastructure, as well as provide ancillary goods and services. If governments provide enabling regulatory environments and incentive structures, then this should provide today’s young people and future generations with ample entrepreneurial opportunities and high-skill jobs.
Young people are at the forefront of demanding urgent and meaningful action to address the climate crisis. Their anxieties and fears about the future are entirely rational given the overwhelming scientific consensus concerning the catastrophic risks associated with failing to do enough. Education systems must develop a realistic but hopeful approach to addressing the concerns and needs of young people; one that provides the knowledge and skills they need to understand the climate crisis and what can and must be done to provide solutions.
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Education and the Climate Crisis: From Activism to Action
Children's letters on the concourse of the SEC at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland. Photograph: Doug Peters/ UK Government.
November 4, 2021
The climate crisis is widely accepted as the defining challenge of our times but our education systems are still lagging far behind what is needed to equip and empower young people to move from activism to action, writes CEO of WISE Stavros Yiannouka.
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t long last, the climate crisis is widely accepted as the defining challenge of our times, and young people are at the forefront of demanding urgent action from world leaders. However, our education systems are still lagging far behind what is needed to equip and empower young people and support them in moving from activism to action.
A recent review by Education International (‘EI’) of 73 countries’ updated Nationally Determined Contributions—the national action plans mandated by the Paris Accord that set out each nation’s pathways for reducing emissions and adapting to climate change—and found that none of them “made the grade.” For example, only 18% specifically mention CCE, and of these not one calls for CCE to be based on science.
These findings are echoed by a survey of 10,000 young people aged 16 to 25, from 10 countries around the world including Brazil, India, Nigeria, and the US, to be published in the Lancet Planetary Health. The survey found that although nearly 60% of respondents reported feeling extremely or very worried about the impact of climate change on their lives, only 31% believed that governments were “doing enough to avoid catastrophe.” Indeed 65% expressed the view that Governments were “failing young people” and 58% that they “were betraying me/future generations.”
For the world’s education systems to become catalysts for effective action to address the climate crisis, they need to first adopt a cross-disciplinary approach that explores the causes and effects of man-made climate change on human society and the Earth’s ecosystems. Such an approach must be firmly rooted in science and underscore the overwhelming scientific consensus that exists around the topic. In addition, it must adaptively carry on throughout the K-12 education cycle.
Education systems should not stop at simply highlighting the extent and severity of the climate crisis. Indeed, as the survey discussed above reveals, young people are already acutely aware of the seriousness of the challenge facing the world. Moreover, as the same survey highlights, concerns about the climate crisis are causing psychological distress amongst young people with 75% reporting that “the future is frightening” and 56% believing that “humanity is doomed.” It is therefore incumbent on our education systems to also shine a light on available solutions to the climate crisis and to inject of a realistic but nevertheless hopeful sense of what can be achieved during the lifetimes of today’s young people. Such a solutions-oriented approach should again be firmly grounded in science, emphasizing the absence of a magic bullet, and highlighting the need for both technological and behavioral changes, many of which can be implemented in the present, and need not involve the wholesale disavowal of technological civilization. In this regard the writings of Vaclav Smil are particularly instructive and can provide a framework to think analytically and practically about addressing climate change.
Education systems must also provide young people with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively transition to the workplace and to seize the opportunities that are becoming available as the world embarks on the green industrial revolution that is taking place in response to climate change. Beyond placing greater emphasis on the STEM subjects, (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education systems should do more to incorporate project-based learning and entrepreneurship into their pedagogies and curricula. The good news is that the green industrial revolution will require invention and innovation across almost all activities and sectors of the economy from agriculture to zoning regulations and everything in between. Moreover, unlike the information technology revolution which employs relatively few people and requires proportionally little capital, transitioning to a net zero carbon economy will require significant long-term investments to create new, and adapt existing infrastructure, as well as provide ancillary goods and services. If governments provide enabling regulatory environments and incentive structures, then this should provide today’s young people and future generations with ample entrepreneurial opportunities and high-skill jobs.
Young people are at the forefront of demanding urgent and meaningful action to address the climate crisis. Their anxieties and fears about the future are entirely rational given the overwhelming scientific consensus concerning the catastrophic risks associated with failing to do enough. Education systems must develop a realistic but hopeful approach to addressing the concerns and needs of young people; one that provides the knowledge and skills they need to understand the climate crisis and what can and must be done to provide solutions.
