MIAMI — Shiva Rajbhandari doesn't want you to think it's impressive that he ran for a school board seat at age 17.
He doesn't want you to find the fact that he campaigned on a platform to make his Idaho district a leader on climate change, or that he won Boise's highest turnout school board election against an incumbent, anything to be awed by. . history.
What's impressive is that Boise Public Schools teachers have been educating him about climate change since seventh grade. Not because of the state's scientific guidance, but because it recognizes the importance of climate change. They also “told me every day that your voice is powerful and can make a difference,” he said.
“This is something that should be accessible to all students,” Rajbhandari, now 19, told an audience at the Aspen Institute’s annual climate event earlier this month. But “not all students are like that.”
Like many of the people I interviewed at the Miami event, Rajbhandari sees education as essential to reducing the damage caused by global warming. By providing young people with the skills and resilience to fight climate change and reducing carbon emissions by leveraging school systems, which are often the largest employers and landowners in their communities, education can create positive change for a less apocalyptic future. It can be evoked.
“We need to recognize that education is: that much said Rajbhandari, speaking at a panel hosted by This is Planet Ed, an Aspen project that promotes education about climate issues.
Here are some of the takeaways from the conference on how climate change impacts students and learning at all levels of education, and how education systems can address the problem.
Early education:
- There is danger lurking for the youngest children. Children aged 0 to 8 are particularly vulnerable to damage from climate change and heat waves. It's also a time when children's brains develop most rapidly, making it especially important to lay a foundation for climate resilience, said Michelle Kang, CEO of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
- No need to wait until kindergarten. Children can be introduced to activities like composting and recycling and values about a healthy planet from a very young age, Kang said.
- It's also about access. Kang noted that she visited a child care program in Texas that could no longer safely take children outside in the midday heat because the storm had taken away their shade.
K-12:
- money money money: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and Reduce Inflation Act includes significant financial incentives and support for schools to reduce their carbon emissions through solar rooftops, electric buses, and building efficiencies. Many people are unaware of such opportunities, speakers said.
- Treat the topic differently Rajhbandari said it's not just that “polar bears are dying, oceans are warming, coral reefs are bleaching, and people in sub-Saharan Africa may not have enough to eat within 50 years.” He said the issue is urgent, immediate and personal, but students also need to know it can have a positive impact. “The key is to talk about solutions and to talk about agency.”
- Silence doesn't help: Laura Schifter, an Aspen senior who leads This is Planet Ed, recalled the story of a student who was surprised by a UN report on climate change and shocked that no adults at school were talking about climate change. “She started thinking, 'Am I crazy? Am I worrying too much about myself and not worrying about anyone else?'” Shifter said.
- A perfect storm: Climate threats are drawing increased attention to other threats to public schools, such as expanded school choice and vouchers. Miami Dade School Board member Luisa Santos pointed out that Miami's public schools serve as hurricane shelters. School privatization could complicate that role, she noted, if fewer locally operated school buildings were run instead by a variety of private operators.
Higher education:
- New world, new needs: Climate change is starting to reshape the workforce, providing new opportunities in renewable energy, sustainability and other sectors, speakers said. Madeline Pumariega, president of Miami Dade College, said higher education must identify these new demands and help prepare students to meet them.
- for example: She noted that her university has started a program for automotive technicians focused on electric vehicles. She said, “I’m sorry because we have manpower available. We wanted to do this, but we didn't have the manpower. can do.”
- Change an existing program: Universities are increasingly incorporating climate research into a variety of fields. Culinary arts students should learn how to reduce food waste, and future nurses should know how to mitigate the health impacts of climate change, speakers said.
- Change starts on campus: There are also efforts to integrate campus sustainability efforts into the curriculum. For example, at the University of Washington at Bothell, students from several majors worked to restore campus wetlands. At Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, students in engineering and other fields helped make buildings more efficient. And SUNY Binghamton offers a class called “Sustainable College Planning,” where students develop ways to compost dormitories, improve furniture reuse, and more.
For Miami in particular, much of the city is at risk of being flooded in the coming decades due to rising sea levels. But I was reminded of a message I heard at last year's Aspen conference from Anthony Leiserowitz, a senior research scientist at Yale University. “Scientists agree it’s real, it’s us, it’s bad, but there is hope.”
Important sources of that hope are students, educators, and school systems.
This story about climate change solutions Hechinger Reportis a nonprofit, independent media outlet focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up Hechinger Newsletter.