Picture credit: jwvein - CC0
Schools have been teaching climate change for years, but lacks updating as the problem is growing
My generation is in a peculiar situation: we’ve inherited a planet with issues so severe that they threaten the very planet we call home, and all life on it. You would think that, given the situation’s obvious urgency, we would stand as a united, green force, fighting for a sustainable future.
But we know that’s not the case. Our response to crisis is surprisingly apathetic. The problem seems farfetched and absurd, for those who don’t care to read into it. That’s because these very issues haven’t been integrated where they should – juxtaposed to our ABCs.
Failure to take action shouldn’t be blamed so much on the negligent youth, as on the curriculum failing to alarm and inspire them. Sure, we may have a class in school dedicated to watching An Inconvenient Truth, and students learn about greenhouse gases, endangered species and biodiversity, but we fail to implement environmentalism as a current issue that needs to be actively dealt with.
Failure to take action shouldn’t be blamed so much on the negligent youth, as on the curriculum failing to alarm and inspire them
In 2011, Charles Sayan, founder and director of the California-based Ocean Preservation Society published the book The Failure of Environmental Education. In it, he argued that failure comes from education “not keeping pace with the environmental degradation, with human impacts on the environment.”
I think Sayan’s statements linger with even more relevance today. Environmental education has, since it’s introduction in the 60s and 70s, not adapted to the environmental issues we’re facing in the 21st century.
We need greener schools, outdoor teaching, field trips and conservation classes. Students should be thought how to identify and tackle local environmental issues, and how political processes work. Sustainability, climate and biodiversity should not be limited to a lecture or two – it should surround students at all times, spurring them towards a greener future.
I believe both mine- and future generations care deeply about the environment. They just need to be shown how.
Jonas Henmo