Climate Literacy Framwork Being Developed in the US

Hi Mark -

I took a look at the Climate Literacy piece, and I agree that it provides a good basis for curriculum planning. I much appreciate the work of people in agencies such NOAA, NASA et al., who persevere despite adverse political pressures. I am concerned, however, that the level of urgency in this curriculum is too low. While protecting children in lower grades is important, so is getting the full message to teachers and letting them judge how much to communicate to the grade levels they're dealing with. I'm also concerned about the following statements on p. 5: "Slowing or reversing climate change trends can be accomplished by combining short term strategies, such as conservation, efficient use of resources, and the use of renewable resources, with long term investments in technology research and sustainable development strategies." As I read the science, we are pretty much beyond "reversing" and we should begin to address adaptation seriously. "Societal change is triggered at the individual and community levels, and by leadership of industry and government." Except for government support of scientific climate research (not a small exception, to be sure), on the policy and practical fronts industry and government have been miserably deficient in "leadership" on climate - their so-called leadership has been, and continues to be, part of the problem, not part of the solution. It's been grassroots activism and its effect on local governments that have driven the changes we've seen - in spite of the resistance of industry and government. Underlying it all is our exploitive economic system. Until we deal with the devastating myth that a healthy economy must be a growing one, we'll continue the current headlong rush in the wrong direction. I know that's a tall curriculum order, but we're in the throes of a very tall problem.

Cheers,
Adam

All:

Thank you, Thomas and Adam, for your comments on climate literacy and education issues. We know that putting good information out isn't necessarily going to help people make decisions, especially in environments/climates where it's all about opinions and not about facts. Lisa Dilling and Susi Moser who wrote the book that Thomas mentions note the challenges of weaving climate and sustainabiility into curriculum, but much of their focus is on public outreach and communications. The climate literacy framework may not be perfect by any means, but its meant as a starting place since there are still so many misconceptions we have to contend with. I'm attending a US EPA conference about their Climate Leaders program (http://www.epa.gov/climateleaders ) which is wildly eye opening to me...and I'm sure some of the companies attending. It turns out that many multinationals are way out ahead of the curve in terms of getting a handle on their emissions and radically tightening up their ships, and there's even some fairly enlightened energy companies out there who have been asking for federal regulations since dealing with each state individually is a huge headache. Clearly, the challenge is so huge we have to come at it from many different angles, including the longer-term focus on education, helping people understand the basic nuts and bolts, so to speak, of the climate system and its human dimension.

Mark