Whether students are studying art, math, social studies, or English, there’s a way to incorporate environmental concerns.
Fires. Floods. Heat waves. Drought. Hurricanes. From an environmental science (ES) perspective, this past summer was like none other, with headline after headline detailing the climate reality that, like it or not, we are living with.
In the midst of news stories detailing unprecedented flooding in New York and firestorms across the American West, the International Panel on Climate Change released its first climate report since 2013, endorsed by all 195 member nations, which takes into account more than 14,000 scientific studies. It was a firm, somewhat grim reminder that we are no longer preparing for the climate crisis but actively living it, and without timely change and mitigation measures, we may be unable to reverse some of its most serious effects.
This change will most likely come from students, a group described by former Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn as “the first generation to feel the effects of the climate crisis and the last who can do something about it.”
