It’s time for environmental re-education

Reduce, reuse, recycle: a phrase we all learned in elementary school and saw repeatedly on flashy posters plastered on walls and trash cans wherever we went. But beyond this catchphrase, what do we really learn about the environment while in school? 

I would say that the majority of what I know about climate change and the importance of sustainability comes from reading the news and seeing people post about it online on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. In addition, I attended left-leaning schools, so my teachers and peers weren’t hesitant to bring up climate change issues in classes and have discussions about them. However, even after all of these experiences, I still feel as though I do not know enough about the climate crisis and what I should be doing to reduce the impacts of global warming. 

According to climate.gov, Earth’s temperature has been rising at over double the rate that it was prior to 1981, contributing to temperatures reaching new extremes every year, reduced snow and sea ice levels (especially in the Arctic), increased heavy rainfall and changing habitat ranges. Every year, the problem is getting worse because of our inaction, demonstrating the need for a more rigid and comprehensive environmental education requirement, whether it be implemented anywhere from elementary school to universities. 

We are at our most impressionable when we are first learning about the world in elementary and middle school. Therefore, a more comprehensive environmental education curriculum can be implemented to educate youth about sustainable practices (beyond just the three Rs) and climate change issues. 

Starting the conversation early on increases the chances of the future generation advocating for environmental change as they grow older and working towards new initiatives to make that change themselves. 

Environmental education includes raising awareness and understanding of environmental challenges, increasing motivation to improve environmental quality, building skills to identify and resolve environmental challenges and participation in activities that resolve these challenges. By establishing a proper environmental education requirement sometime in our educational journey, we can ensure that students worldwide are equipped with the proper and necessary information and tools to implement changes into their own lives, and hopefully even take actions in their larger communities towards the cause. 

Although this plan is ideal, many conservative people in the United States argue that the left is simply over-exaggerating or making up the facts about climate change — not believing that it is a reality and arguing that people should not prioritize sustainability over profitability. Many conservatives even believe that the science behind global warming is speculative and refuse to acknowledge the many statistics and scientific findings that support the existence and negative impacts of global warming on our future. 

To rely on political discourse to raise enough awareness about these issues and to encourage sustainable habits is practically a lost cause, especially in areas where the general consensus is that global warming is nothing more than a political buzzword. Educating students about the environment should not end within the K-12 public education systems. It is up to higher academia to properly educate young individuals about the climate crisis, reduce the large-scale sentiment that climate issues are simply political issues and increase awareness about the incredibly rapid impacts that climate change will have on our environment, health and well-being. 

Several colleges, including the University of Minnesota and the University of Washington, have implemented an environmental studies requirement into their general education curriculums. Other colleges must begin to follow in their footsteps. Although college is not the most ideal time for people to begin learning about the environment and what they can do for it, it’s never too late to learn. 

Requiring students to learn something is never the most effective method to teach about something as vital as global warming and sustainability, since many won’t necessarily feel incentivized enough to care about the course or module if it is mandatory. But this can be argued with all the general education courses we have. Regardless, it’s critical to educate and inform students and at the very least, it would be a step in the right direction. 

Whether it’s a natural world requirement like the University of Washington has in their general education curriculum, or simply another module or two required about sustainable habits to take to register for classes, USC and other post-secondary institutions should begin to encourage students to learn about these pressing issues, do their part both in their own lives and encourage larger-scale efforts to fight climate change in communities around them.