Climate Education Should Be Taught In Schools

COP28, the 28th annual United Nations climate summit that starts Nov. 30 and runs through Dec. 12, will be focused on how to limit and prepare for future climate change. Meanwhile, the most frequent sentiment among my college-level environmental science students is, “Why haven’t I been taught this before? Over the past 13 years, my students have consistently expressed disappointment and dismay that they hadn’t previously been taught about the climate crisis or the many environmental justice issues that plague their communities as a result. Climate change is threatening their futures; they see the world is on fire and yet very few of them have had any formal climate change education before entering my classroom.