WHY

Climate change will inevitably affect this generation of students. It influences our career choices, ability to earn a living, mental health, and places we can live. If school is meant to prepare students for their future, why is it still preparing them for a future without climate change?
 

Preparing students for climate change does not end with teaching them that it exists. We also cannot show them the horrible effects of the warming and tell them it rests on their generation to fix it. Instead, we need to show students that yes, climate change is a huge problem, and things are changing, but it is entirely solvable, and we are adaptable. To do this, schools need solution-based, cultural, cross-curricular, hands-on, and place-based education, along with sustainable workforce development and mental health support.

 

First, solution-based education. Many young people feel overwhelmed when faced with evidence of the effects of climate change, predictions for future disasters, and the burden of responsibility for saving the world from these issues. To prevent students from being overwhelmed and ignoring the issue and to protect students’ mental health, climate change education has to be based on solutions, not unchecked cynicism. No matter how grim the future looks, effective education stems from a hope of achieving something, not from the apathy of being born into a doomed world. While it’s important for students to understand the effects of climate change and their scale, it’s possible and essential to balance this with learning about solutions to those effects.

 

Next, cultural education is important when teaching students about climate change. Climate change is a direct result of the industrial capitalist system that flourished in the wake of colonial genocide against Native populations across America, and worldwide. Here in Sitka, Tlingit people successfully stewarded the land for 10,000 years without the level of destruction that white settlers brought. Incorporating Native values into climate curriculum is not only prudent for a holistic solutions-based approach, but also critical in teaching active anti-racism and aiding student populations who have been the most affected by colonialism—and who will continue to be the most affected by climate change. It also teaches students about the land around them through a different point of view, which draws on different kinds of knowledge like storytelling that are valuable but often disregarded.

 

Climate change education must also happen in every subject. Under the topic of social studies, climate change will affect migration patterns, hunger, and conflict, which is why students should also research issues like place-based approaches to aid investment in the global south or hydroponics as a solution to a lack of water in farming regions. Furthermore, robust civics engagement education is highly relevant to climate action. Understanding how local and national governments can take action to help communities and respond to crisis—as well as the role our elected officials have often played in a politics of inaction, corruption, and climate denial—is the first step towards students understanding how powerful their own voices are, and how solutions to the climate crisis will be tied to our most highly-valued democratic institutions. Giving students the knowledge about how their representative government works also enables them to participate in it and advocate for issues like climate change that are important to places like Sitka.

 

Hands-on and place-based education is incredibly important to connect students to the issue of climate change and its stakes, while also creating an engaging learning environment. These modes of learning are proven to increase student engagement and interest in subject matter, not only increasing student success learning outcomes, but also cultivating care for the community and surrounding environment. There is space for place-based and hands-on learning in all classes and topics; life sciences might study local streams and ecosystems; social studies might interview local experts and Tlingit elders; vocational training classes might construct or repair local cabins and trails; English classes might read and write about the Tongass. By integrating the natural and human histories of the community into our curriculum, we are better preparing our students to understand and adapt to the changes that will affect them.
 

Sustainable workforce development directly prepares students for an economy that is already shifting in response to climate change. Ideally, students would learn in school how the economy is already changing and how it is expected to change even further in response to climate change. Some changes will be difficult, direct results of our failure to mitigate the warming planet; fishing and agriculture will become more unpredictable and less profitable as land and water temperatures rise. Construction design and community planning will change as fires and floods become increasingly common. We will need more emergency first responders as we see more natural disasters, like landslides. But we will also see inspiring and value-added needs as society shifts towards innovation and sustainable solutions to fight back against these changes. This issue is already leading to forays into sustainable farming, as well as alternative propulsion methods for fishing vessels. Additionally, in response to a warming climate caused by fossil fuel use, opportunities in clean energy, energy efficient infrastructure, and clean transportation are expanding. Students are entering this changing workforce without learning about its changes and without being prepared for them. Instead, students should be given opportunities to work alongside people who are already experiencing change and leading innovations, and learn about the large-scale effects that climate change will have on the global economy.

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Finally, climate change preparedness requires mental health support. Students are dealing with the loss of traditions, activities, and places. They are also growing up in a world that's changing so quickly that many people have lost hope of retaining things like comfortable temperatures, biodiversity, and coral reefs. Students' plans for the future are affected by the possibilities of losing their future home to a wildfire or all their possessions to a flood; or living in a place without clean or readily available water. Many students also have family members in the present who were relocated or lost their lives due to fires, floods, storms, erosion, or heat. Everyone is affected by climate change, and young people have their whole futures to be changed by its effects. As a result, they need support to combat feelings of loss and well-placed anxiety, as well as education incorporating all of the above suggestions to help them feel more prepared for the future and less hopeless.