By: Giorgia F.
In 2019, Italy became the first country to announce a nationwide, mandatory climate curriculum throughout all of its public schools. The new mandate will be put into place this coming academic year according to Italy’s Education Ministry and will require students to study climate issues for 1 hour a week (Washington Post). Italy’s declaration of national climate education policy amid growing global concern for climate change begs the question: will other leading countries such as the United States follow suit?
When announcing this new curriculum requirement, Italian Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti explained how “the entire ministry is being changed to make sustainability and climate the center of the education model” (Fioramonti via Reuters). With 33 hours of climate instruction each year, students attending Italy’s public schools will learn about a variety of issues regarding the climate crisis as well as how to make more sustainable life choices.
In order to better understand the possibility of a national climate curriculum in the US, some key historical points pertaining to the National Science Education Standards (NSES) are necessary to note. The last time the US’s science curriculum saw an update was when people were rocking low rise jeans and jamming out to CDs: 1996. While the National Research Council’s standards were, and still are, a helpful guide for science curriculums across the country, they are tremendously outdated. In 1996, the global surface temperature as recorded by NASA was 0.32 degrees celsius while today, in 2020, the global surface temperature is 0.99 degrees celsius (NASA). While this may not seem like a huge rise, the data illustrates that global temperature continues to climb as a result of climate change. Of the 20 warmest years on record, 19 of them have fallen within this century (NASA). The state of climate change simply is not the same as it was when the US brought this national science curriculum into schools across the country. Many organizations agree and have led numerous efforts urging the government to update the standards to better reflect our current climate situation. Most recently, the National Research Council along with the National Science Foundation has created updated guidelines that take climate change into account. The downfall? This new curriculum is up to the state legislature to decide whether or not to incorporate the standards meaning that many states’ curriculums will not change. (Chen, 2020).
Back in Europe, Italy’s Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti is a significant reason why the country’s curriculum change was passed. As a member of Italy’s 5-Star political movement, he leans left on issues including climate change. He has also stated on multiple occasions his goal of sustainable development as well as published numerous scientific articles (Fioramonti). On the opposite end of the political spectrum lies Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s appointee for Secretary of Education. A staunch conservative, she has refused to directly state her opinion on climate change but did praise President Trump’s decision to leave the Paris Climate Accord (Worth, 2017). Under her leadership, a national climate change curriculum is highly unlikely to unfold.
Beyond the political sphere, there are some cultural points that would make passing a national climate education curriculum challenging. Across America’s 50 states, there are a wide variety of cultures, from close knit small towns to sprawling suburbs to bustling cities. Not only do each of these cultural habitats play a different role in climate change, but the people who live in them view the issue quite differently. According to a Yale University study, the 33% of Americans surveyed that said they discuss climate change were highly concentrated in the west and northeast, areas most affected by climate related issues such as droughts and hurricanes. According to this data, there are vast expanses of the country where climate change is hardly talked about (New York Times). With a lack of discussion around climate issues in numerous states, how likely is it that a national education curriculum would be accepted?
The New York Times graph illustrates that discussions centered on climate change follow a regional pattern (New York Times, 2017).
However challenging passing a national climate education mandate may be, it is a significant and necessary step in combating a climate crisis that worsens by the day. Education is a vital step in engaging people who may not feel the issue is important or even a real phenomenon. Although state mandated climate curriculums are helpful, in order to effectively address climate change, the United States needs to come together and put up a united front. The more people understand this issue, the more effective response to halting practices contributing to global warming and the more people making sustainable choices.
Discussion Questions:
What are some ways to encourage more discussions around climate change in areas of the country where climate change may not seem relevant to the everyday lives of residents?
On the local level, many individual school districts have climate education curriculums (see my last article Eco Action in Education), how can these small scale actions over time lead to a national climate curriculum?
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