Education and Sustainability

For nearly all of my professional life I’ve been a teacher. Over the last decade I worked very hard to open my students’ eyes to social and environmental responsibility, but often the limits of time, curriculum, class size, and the rigid expectations of the district undermined any efforts I could make. That is, ultimately, why I switched careers. To get to focus on sustainability full time is a dream, rather than something I occasionally talk about and hope that the students can understand and care about as well. A classroom filled with young people isn’t that different from an office. A kid isn’t different than the person you turn and see in your traffic commute.

 I bring this up to illustrate they have the same basic needs of life. They have lazy days, the stress and anxiety of relationships and expectations weigh heavily on them, they have days filled with hope. IT would be a mistake to put too much on the future generation to solve anything, and it’s a big, but necessary, ask of them to learn about human causes climate change from a young age. They have time on their side, and it’s a necessary step to start their climate education young. Get the youth questioning our consumption, economic systems, and engrained selfishness now so that they can grapple with it as they grow into adults and find solutions on their own timeline.

Despite leaving teaching I haven’t completely abandoned the urge to educate and open the eyes of our youth. The earlier that young people understand the decisions we all need to make to avoid the worst effects of climate change, the better. I’ve been engaging, to some degree, with the questions about human actions and sustainability for my whole life, and feel like I’ve just scratched the surface. I’ve had to self-teach and learn so much so quickly (electricity generation, effects that various sectors have on emssions, political and corporate responsibility) that it often feels like I’m trying to sip through a garden hose. The new information and ideas can inundate me. There is no need for our young people to be similarly overwhelmed.

My inherent interest in sustainability has made this journey exciting, but we can’t expect everyone to learn these things on their own. That is why education, curriculum, and earlier exposure comes in. Knowledge about the earth, and understanding the role human decisions play, is like a language – steep yourself in it early and you can speak it without thinking too hard. A few suggestions to improve the state of environmental understanding in our youths:

– Every school needs access to greenspace. Nature ceases to be an “idea” being taught

-Non-elective sustainability courses at the middle and high school level.

-Basic high school level offering explaining electrical generation, carbon and electrical accounting, fluency with units of energy consumption.

-Increased technical training and apprenticeship in the entry level jobs required to electrify our grid.

-Expand and fund stewardship programs within schools. At the very least fund curriculum development so that teachers without inherent knowledge on these topics have a chance to teach it easily.

-Cross disciplinary engagement on matters related to the environment (it shouldn’t just be Science classes engaging with these questions).