Climate Education as a Catalyst for Change
Photo by Carlyn Kranking
Students in the United States often grow up in a system that suppresses messages about climate change. On the federal level, there’s no requirement that schools teach this topic, and multiple states have taken additional steps to obscure scientific truths.
Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia say in their science standards that climate change is scientifically controversial, even though 97% of scientists are sure of it. There’s more: Montana, Nebraska, Ohio and Pennsylvania’s statewide science standards don’t mention that climate change is caused by humans.
Teaching about climate change and environmental justice in public schools is just one way to help lower the barriers to admission into the climate movement. And when students learn about environmental issues, it can change their behavior.
College students who took an intensive one-year course about the climate reduced their individual carbon emissions by 2.86 tons per year, according to research published in February by San José State University. Turns out, simple education can cause drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
“If similar education programs were applied at scale,” reads the research paper’s abstract, “the potential reductions in carbon emissions would be of similar magnitude to other large-scale mitigation strategies, such as rooftop solar or electric vehicles.”
I asked a few Northwestern students to write about their experience taking their first environmental class in college. Here’s what they had to say.
Carlyn Kranking, Medill ‘20
“All of the strategies we learned about gave me some hope for the future”
In high school, I knew that climate change was happening, but I had no idea how to confront it other than by recycling and turning off lights and water when they’re not in use. AP Environmental Science did not teach me any strategies. I signed up for Climate Change, Policy & Society in the hope I would gain a greater understanding of what climate change actually is, how long we have before the most severe effects take hold and what strategies could actually improve the situation.
Professor Susan Thistle’s class did just that. We read a lot of different books and articles that outlined what seemed like every climate change strategy known to man. I had never heard of 350.org before the class, and now I know the significance of the number 350 — the maximum safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (it’s now at about 415 ppm). Also, it was really interesting to take the class when Greta Thunberg was becoming popular, because that connected the class material to current events.
All of the strategies we learned about gave me some hope for the future. Knowing that scientists and activists have thought of feasible strategies means we still have a chance (although learning about the United States’ problematic past and present regarding climate change makes me slightly cautious in my optimism). I left the class with the ability to have more informed conversations about climate change, a greater awareness of climate change-related news and more eco-friendly personal habits.
Aliyah Armstrong, Medill ‘21
“I feel empowered to make better and more informed choices”
I would consider myself a friend to the environment. I recycle, I bike places, I don’t eat meat. I was on leadership for the environmental club at my high school. I wasn’t a diehard tree-hugger, but before taking an environmental policy class in college, I felt green, happy and hopeful.
That all changed when I took Environment and Society my freshman fall quarter. That class left me feeling guilty, kind of angry and decently pessimistic. Even still, I was happy that I had added it to my schedule.
Taking an environmental class — one that was not taught on a tight schedule with the objective of churning out fives on an AP test — made me realize just how dire our situation is. It was not a pessimistic class by nature; in fact many of our readings aimed to inspire action and solution brain-storming. However, there was a heavy and simply unavoidable emphasis on the fact that, as a planet, we are most likely screwed... and that wasn’t exactly the easiest pill to swallow.
The class did not brainwash me to become another Greta Thunberg. The professor, Susan Thistle, did not pressure her students to go vegan or to give up all plastic. We were merely presented with realistic (somewhat depressing) points of view, as well as information and data that we could interpret as we pleased. That’s what I loved about this class. It didn’t force anything on its students. It just offered to open our minds.
Though Environment and Society changed my outlook, I do think it was for the better. I can now look at large-scale political and economic factors and see how their implications trickle down throughout all levels of society to affect the choices that I have and the decisions that I make. For example, I know to be skeptical of certain types of green certifications on food labels. I now feel less negatively about GMOs. I more actively interpret my own socially-constructed values as they pertain to different organisms and aspects of the environment. I think more critically about the potential consequences of my day-to-day tendencies, and I feel empowered to make better and more informed choices about the part I play in this complicated web.
Chloe Cope, Medill ‘23
“I learned to think about plants in a completely different light”
I didn’t take my first climate-themed class until my senior year of college, which is amazing. It was a 300-level community ecology class, which, though difficult, was extremely rewarding. I learned about how plants interact with each other in communities, form mutualisms with animals and insects, fight herbivores and even communicate via pheromones.
I learned to think about plants in a completely different light, as dynamic creatures which are capable of changing and influencing the world around them in very unique ways. Being aware of the intricacy of these networks and the complexity of the natural world made me feel much more connected to the environment and even more committed to protecting it.
Emily Jahn, Weinberg ‘20
“I was finally being armed with the tools to have intelligent conversations about the environment”
I went to a private, Catholic high school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the closest I got to any environmental courses during this time was my freshman year biology class. While this high school education was what got me to Northwestern, and I am forever grateful for that, it didn’t give me any perspective on the environment. There’s something special for me in learning about our environment and how we can protect it. I knew I wanted this to be part of my education after I spent the sixth grade in an environmental education program taught at a nature center. That year, I raised chickens, learned to identify wildflowers, trees, birds and amphibians, tapped trees to make maple syrup, did projects on acid rain and patchiness in forests and much more. I missed this environmental focus in high school.
In the spring of my first year at Northwestern, I declared a minor in Environmental Policy and Culture without having taken a class in that department; I just knew it was what I wanted to do. The following fall, I took two courses related to the environment, one for the minor, and one for my Journalism major. The first course I took for the minor was Climate Change, Policy and Society. We learned about theories for how to decrease carbon usage, like a carbon tax or carbon cap and trade, and discussed if these kinds of changes could happen through our legal systems or through direct action, like protest and civil disobedience. I remember feeling riled up after the first class, and excited for the rest of the quarter. Almost all of this information was new knowledge for me. I felt like I was finally being armed with tools to have intelligent conversations about the environment, and on top of that, make efforts to protect it.
That fall, I also took a journalism class called Native American Environmental Issues and the Media. This class made me truly consider my own and others’ relationships with the land around us, and how we interact with it. I had an incredible professor who took us on a trip to the Oneida reservation in Wisconsin to learn about food sovereignty, a host of involved peers who cared about the content as much as I did, and discussions during each class that pushed me past a simplistic understanding of humans and our planet. These two courses made me remember what I was missing, and gave me more food for thought — and action — than I ever had.
Margo Milanowski, Medill ‘22