Opinion: The Solution for Climate Change lies in Education

Nations insisting on investing in a temporary medicine for a deadly disease is how to best describe current climate change policy. However, instead I urge for us to focus on a solution for the structural origins of the climate change issue. It’s as if we are prescribing medication to an obese person who wants to lose weight and expect this is all that's necessary. Whereas the more effective and preventative solution would be to exercise and eat well. This same logic applies to climate change abatement action. Today, the most common solutions to climate change are high-cost renewable energy and negative emissions technologies. The reality here is that these are partial solutions, which will not be long-lasting and efficient if we don’t accept the unpleasant truth: this issue lies below the visible consequences and should be approached from the real causes.

The first step for this mission is to recognise that the real solution for the climate change issue is directly related to the matter of a complete and quality education for everyone. Why don’t we open our eyes to the worldwide flawed education systems and focus on the lives of those who are dying now and today due to climate change and its consequences?

Climate Change Eduction (CCE)

To begin, it’s necessary to define what constitutes a quality education. A school with quality education must be accessible to all, add value to the students’ lives, incorporate real life skills trainings, lack discrimination, improve literacy and numeracy, be inclusive and safe, and have qualified teachers. In addition, the former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed that education is also about citizenry and participation, being the first step to build more just, peaceful and tolerant societies. With this basis, young adults will be prepared to attend universities that will provide skills, knowledge and material to help them to achieve their future goals.

In 2021, The Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) hosted and published by UNESCO, gathered necessary evidence and analysis “to trigger actions that will contribute to inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all”. As explored below, it assessed that almost all countries have laws, policies or plans addressing climate change in primary and secondary education. However, despite having climate change and global warming curriculums, these topics are far from being a priority in the classroom. Students have a low awareness of environment importance, and they often don’t know how to answer basic questions about it. This happens because support and budget fall short when it comes to applying these regulations. It’s noted that they lack essential competencies, which include explaining the impact humans have on Earth, applying multiple ways of thinking about the environment, showing respect for different perspectives on solutions for socio-ecological crises, and finally, committing to climate action, especially focusing on the needs of low- and middle-income countries.

The image below is from the 2021 GEM Report and it shows the percentage of climate change content and education in a sample of 20 countries. These are both Western and Non-Western, high-income and low-income.

According to the data, CCE is included in national curriculum frameworks in 75% of countries, but the inclusion in education sector plans and national laws is 45% and 40% respectively. This means overall some goals are set but not accomplished fully due to lack of commitment. Consequently, this lack of action can lead to a vicious cycle. Climate change leads to more natural disasters and directly affects education in low- and middle-income countries. It has caused the deaths of students and teachers, and schools’ destructions and closures. Throughout a recent 2-year period, schools closed in 81 countries due to climate-related disasters, which resulted in 400 million students affected. Thus, the less action is taken to slow down climate change, the harder education is hit.

Why must CCE start from school? 

It is crucial for children to be introduced with CCE from an early age because it will influence their worldview and shaping of beliefs. According to the GEM Report, a UNESCO study in 2021, showed that CCE participants have a higher concern for environmental issues. For instance, children who study in energy efficiency buildings and learn to act locally (e.g., recycling) from a young age. As a result, in the future, they will become a generation of sustainable and environmentally conscious adults, as well as more likely to support pro-environmental policies, environmental activism and active participation. The Report further indicates that a complete education includes quality climate change education, which is social, emotional and action-oriented learning directed to climate change. These specifications require creating or adapting and implementing an appropriate curriculum, teacher training, and pedagogies. 

CCE’s main objective is to focus on young people from 15 to 24 years. By encouraging positive mindsets about the environment, they can change their habits and act, address the causes of climate change, and adapt sustainable lifestyles from an early age. Other objectives include increasing policymakers’ awareness of the urgency to tackle this issue, and increase vulnerable communities’ resilience, who are most likely to be affected. The strategies on how these should be achieved involve having an environmental lens in all subjects, building necessary skills and knowledge, improving critical thinking, and encouraging behavioural change for climate change adaptation and mitigation. 

A well-fitting pedagogy is the Montessori teaching methods. With this approach, our objectives would become substantially more achievable. Firstly, it prioritises autonomy and individualisation, meaning it considers the children’s needs, phases of development, rhythm, and human senses. Hence, this helps  make learning fun and encourages creativity, curiosity, and responsibility.  Secondly, as the children have the opportunity to follow their interests, which are shaped by the materials provided to them, there’s a higher chance they will feel drawn by environmentally friendly perspectives.  With this in mind, schools implementing this pedagogy will contribute to the formation of critical thinkers and environmentally responsible children. Who will grow into societally engaged adults and will possibly create new and creative actions to tackle world issues. Therefore, education plays a key role for national policies in preventing climate collapse. 

If we have a plan, why isn’t it working?

As we know, the climate change damage caused today will have a greater negative impact for future generations rather than it has for us. Neurobiological frameworks explain that humans tend to be more empathetic towards people who are distant from them in time, rather than in space. Hence, the concerns for intergenerational consequences are a stronger motivation for wealthier countries to take action, rather than worrying about marginalised populations' lives around the world. These individuals or communities thus experience discrimination and exclusion resulting from feeling less powerful, less important and less worthy in social, economic, cultural and political dimensions. Although not all human lives have the same luck to be born with certain privileges, every life has the same value and it’s essential to treat all of them as such. Therefore, the real motivation for wealthier nations, such as Sweden or Finland, should be the current struggles of marginalised populations both within their nations and worldwide. Regarding climate change, this means they must invest in the right solution. Furthermore, as many of these countries also emit enormous amounts of greenhouse gases, they have a moral duty to compensate for the damages caused.

The same logic applies for wealthy organisations. For instance, large models of Google AI development consume absurd amounts of energy and produce the equivalent quantity of carbon dioxide. These technologies specifically benefit such companies, while their emissions consequently worsen climate change related issues, causing an unimaginable harm for marginalised communities. Furthermore, upper middle class and rich citizens already have access to an excellent education, but they lack being taught how their actions negatively impact the natural environment, as well as the lives of unfortunate many. Hence, their education system’s adaptation should start by raising awareness of the greenhouse gases’ environmental impact coming from their own countries and businesses.

However, complex problems require complex solutions, because of course, the real world is not as simple as theory. None of these countries or organisations are willing to help the disadvantaged others, if that means they need to sacrifice their economic growth and profit. Starting with the owners of the major polluting businesses, they would have to adapt their industry with greener technologies and reach net negative emissions. This would be time consuming and expensive processes, and their production efficiency and energy price would be directly affected. Thus, these highlight clear motivations to not follow an environmental protection agenda.  

As for the wealthier countries’ governments, they would have to spend on education aid for low- and middle-income countries to repay their lifelong damage debt. Thus, in a long-term perspective, this would impact their economic growth. Moreover, providing quality education to underdeveloped and developing countries will significantly boost their GDP. To put it simply, educated teenagers and young adults have higher chances of starting university and being successful. Similarly, educated workers are more capable to take out skills demanding jobs. Thus, these and other factors demonstrate that a complete and quality education improves people's employability, earnings, and health outcomes, consequently improving a country’s economic situation. This suggests that it would decrease their need to have a dependency relationship based on natural resources with the same rich countries, meaning the incentive to invest in education in marginalized countries is low. 

However, if there is more investment in education, citizens would have a higher quality of life everywhere, meaning healthier and more comfortable lifestyles. Likewise, economic equity between countries and within them would increase. Furthermore, marginalised communities would have the opportunity to acquire knowledge, do their preferred job, gain a voice in climate change debates and a role in environmental decision-making. Finally, enabling quality education including elements of Climate Change Education would ensure that not only governments but citizens too make their contribution to preventing climate change. 

In conclusion, we as citizens must demand our national governments and international organisations to provide a complete and quality education for everyone. An integral part of such education would be Climate Change Education. This would not only include a modification on our own countries’ educational systems, but also funding those of which are paying the highest price from the alarming issue that is climate change. In the end, we all belong to the same species and planet and we must work together in harmony to save our home.