What We Can Learn from Environmental Educators about Teaching for Climate Action

Teaching for climate action is a more challenging task than well-intentioned chemistry educators may realize. The assumptions that increased knowledge about climate change leads to increased concern, which leads to adopting climate change mitigating behaviors, have been studied in a variety of settings. In this article, key studies on the relationships between climate knowledge, concern, and action, as well as the other factors that affect concern and action, are summarized. With the complexity of these relationships in mind, the article presents how climate change mitigation has been discussed in an upper division environmental chemistry course. An in-class small group socioscientific discussion of climate change mitigation is described. A critical book review assignment in the course, which includes several books on climate change impacts, mitigation, and/or adaptation, is described. This assignment prompts students to think about effective climate change communication with general audiences.