Climate change and education

I have recently read some articles about the lack of coverage of climate change in high school curricula and introductory college textbooks in the United States (Meehan et al., 2018 and Yoho & Rittmann, 2018).  I see this as a great problem, especially in light of the recent IPCC report (IPCC, 2018).  We must educate our populace about the dangers of climate change.  These young people are the ones who will be most affected by this phenomenon.  They need to know the science of this and solutions to help mitigate the problem.

Meehan et al, 2018 state the following conclusions concerning the high school curricula:

Findings indicate that (1) about half the curricula portray human activity as a major cause of current climate change, (2) most curricula include information about climatic changes but few details about potentially proximal, near-term impacts of GCC*, and (3) most curricula offer a narrow set of strategies for responding to GCC. These findings suggest that educators should critically examine curricular materials they use to teach about GCC and that scholars should continually examine how GCC is portrayed to youth. *GCC = Global Climate Change

Yoho and Rittmann, 2018 conclude the following when examining introductory college science textbooks:

Energy technologies, climate change, and related environmental issues are found, on average, on ≤4% of textbook pages, and variation is large among individual textbooks. Discipline-based trends exist, especially for the energy technologies presented. Addressed separately as a non-renewable, non-fossil fuel, nuclear energy is found on ≤1% of textbook pages and unfavorably represented. The discussion within these science disciplines has implications for introductory-level education, public perception of science, and informed citizenship.

The recent IPCC report highlights the damage that a 1.5 C increase can produce.  We are actually on track for an even greater increase.  We need to have this information be passed on to the students so that they can make fact-based decisions concerning global climate change and not be influenced by those who are denying the evidence—for whatever reason.

References

IPCC. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2018 Report. Retrieved October 31, 2018, from http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

Meehan, C. R., Levy, B. L., & Collet-Gildard, L. (2018). Global climate change in U.S. high school curricula: Portrayals of the causes, consequences, and potential responses. Science Education, 102(3), 498-528. doi:10.1002/sce.21338

Yoho, R. A., & Rittmann, B. E. (2018). Climate Change and Energy Technologies in Undergraduate Introductory Science Textbooks. Environmental Communication, 12(6), 731-743. doi:10.1080/17524032.2018.1454337

Letter to the editor of The Texarkana Gazette

This was sent as a response to an oped (a very misinformed one) by Cal Thomas and published in the Gazette.

Climate change

TO THE EDITOR:

I am very disappointed in the Gazette for continuing to publish misleading opinion and information by climate change deniers. I am referring to the recent op-ed by Cal Thomas (June 30, Thirty years of 'global warming' panic). Mr. Thomas writes in a way that will make people think there is doubt about human-induced climate change and he cites material that mainstream climate scientists have refuted.

The facts are that the climate is warming and it is mainly due to human impact. We can see the signs already in rising sea level, heat waves, and many other important climate-related processes. Ninety-seven percent of the scientists who study climate agree that the change is occurring and it is human induced. Thomas writes like there is a debate. There is no debate as far as the science goes.

A good website for people to check is https://www.skepticalscience.com/.  This site shows reliable information that refutes the climate change denial. We must ask ourselves what kind of world are we leaving for our descendants and take action now.

David W. Allard

Texarkana, Texas