Climate education
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Education is an essential component of responding to the climate crisis. Through formal education and informal, lifelong learning, people are able to make more sustainable decisions and work towards systems change and social transformation. Climate education cuts across traditional subjects and disciplines – it encompasses climate science, human and social factors that drive greenhouse gas emissions, technical and political solutions that are required to mitigate climate change, strategies for individual and community adaptation to a changing climate, and the ecological restoration that is required for a more resilient future. 35 Education theorist Gert Biesta describes three dimensions of the purpose of education: qualification, socialisation and subjectification. 36 These can also be applied to climate education, whereby:
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‘Qualification’ relates to the skills that people will need to navigate smart homes and cities, and to pursue green careers in the future
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‘Socialisation’ is about developing social norms, or accepted ways of thinking and behaving, that support low-carbon living (but which, wrongly applied, can reinforce patterns of consumption and waste, instead)
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‘Subjectification’ involves the development of critical thinking, over the course of our education, to equip and enable us to challenge the status quo, as illustrated by the student climate strikes.
Environmental and sustainability education Climate education has grown out of the broader field of environmental education. In 1977, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) organised the 13
