Education is not seen as a key tool for reducing climate risk, but it should be
Children in Milburn, New Jersey came together to depict climate change through art.Photo: Radhika Iyengar
Every night after get off work, I search “climate education” in Google News and Apple News. The same five articles opened as if nothing had moved an inch. Then the World Cup happened, and everyone on my Facebook and Twitter feeds was discussing the game every day—but in my nightly searches, the same five articles on climate education kept coming up.
The world is changing every day. Many teachers and organizations make a difference every day. But we won’t be making headlines or news.
A revolution is slowly and quietly brewing.in last year’s COP26 in Glasgow, For the first time, education and environment ministers have come together to support climate education. One of their eight commitments includes “integrating sustainability and climate change into formal education systems, including as core curriculum components, guidelines, teacher training, examination standards and through institutions at multiple levels.” It was loud at COP26 And clear.followed by UNESCO Transformative Education Summit in New York.At this summit We heard from education ministers from Ghana, Greece, Malawi and Belize. Their sincere appeal to finance education and prioritize basic literacy touched the hearts of many. Columbia University’s Faculty House hosts many discussions about educational transformation.On our faces are portraits of young people from all over the world turn flashcards, Designed by young artists and writers for education policy makers, politicians and teachers, challenging them to think and act in new ways. A card from Mexico read:
“From nature, you can learn to feel the pulse of life in your being. You can remember and learn how to enter into the divine dance of creation happening all around you, and you can learn to play your own instrument in the great orchestra of life. You may learn about divine timing, when to listen, when to be silent, when to sow and when to reap. You may learn that everything is related and that things are more than the sum of their parts. Relatively speaking, that’s how good music is made. You’ll learn to listen for subtle messages, and you’ll learn how to play in time. It’s not on the curriculum. — Eliza Colin Hodges25
It’s hard at Columbia to ignore the cards and do business as usual.So we continue our struggle and end up in COP27Where UNESCO Green Education Partnership Officially launched. More than 100 organizations are part of this movement. The partnership calls for greening schools, learning, capacity and readiness, and communities. Don’t take it lightly. Join the movement.
Meanwhile, Apple and Google News show Spain All undergraduate students are required to complete a required climate education course.New Jersey’s first lady and her staff provide resources, budget for teacher training resources, and office of climate education Integrating Climate Concepts Entering NJ Student Learning Standards.In New York State we have #Teach10hoursforClimate A campaign sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation and Bard College. The requirement is 10 hours because teachers currently only teach an average of 2 hours on climate change.
This live climate education campaign continues. But my Apple and Google News don’t give me this information. This news is not mainstream. The mainstream is still football (not that I don’t like Messi), even the green economy, reducing carbon emissions, thinking about saving water, green transportation. Where is education as a key strategy for reducing climate risk?in the white house Nature-Based Solutions Roadmap, lists preparing the workforce for “engineering, law, finance, ecology, accounting, economics, community planning, and maintaining natural solutions,” but completely lacks K-12 climate education as a key strategy for mitigating climate risk. Does this mean that educating the next generation of youth is not even considered one of the key strategies for climate action? Time will prove everything.
This is not a national phenomenon. Christina Kwauk, Past Fellow, Brookings Institution, confirm this global phenomenon. Her research shows that only 24% of countries’ commitments under the Paris Agreement specifically mention children and youth education (down from 26% 2019 analysis). Meanwhile, only 21 percent mentioned climate change education; none called for mandatory climate change education as a climate strategy. This is a dangerous phenomenon. If we don’t educate our younger generations and our communities about the climate risks we face today, then simply put, we have no tomorrow.
We are twenty years behind. Now is the time to make climate education a key climate risk mitigation strategy alongside energy, transition, land use and water, and to make climate education a compulsory part of national curricula.
I am hopeful for 2023. February, Sustainable Development Center at the Columbia Climate School and US Sustainable Development Solutions Network will hold a 2023 America Transformative Education Summit. This expert meeting will bridge existing gaps in education for the UN SDGs as part of the formal curriculum. It will also consult and discuss with policymakers the goal of integrating formal and non-formal educators. The community aims to curate and create relevant educational resources, develop policy briefs and educate policymakers on the need for greater investment in quality education, and identify ways to train and support educators across the United States. We’ve had an overwhelming response, and many education enthusiasts will be sharing their thoughts at the summit.
Will 2023 be the year when this side coaching movement can compete with the World Cup and Messi in the world?In the meantime, I want the world to notice Messi’s armband. What it says has implications for all of us: Education for All.
in peace and sustainable development
Messi is the goat
Cheers to 2023
Radhika Iyengar Director of Education, Columbia Climate Schools Sustainable Development Center.
