Climate change education heating up in California

As students around the globe demand action by their government leaders to protect the environment, school boards across California have taken steps to recognize the impact of climate change on the environment and their students.

Now, many students and teachers are saying it’s time to put ideas on how schools should address climate change into practice.

Climate change falls under the core ideas for middle and high school students in the Next Generation Science Standards, new standards adopted by the state in 2013. Environmental Principles and Concepts also are included in the California Science Framework, which provides guidance for teachers on how to implement the new science standards.

These principles cover broad topics such as how humans depend on and influence natural systems, and by law they must be integrated into state-recommended textbooks and instructional materials.

Schools are encouraged to teach environmental literacy, which by definition includes climate change, according to state law. The Education Code does not mandate that schools teach it, however.

But because climate change is in the state standards, and California’s state science test is aligned to those standards, climate change could appear on the statewide science assessment.

To emphasize the importance of these standards and the impact of climate change more broadly, many districts have passed resolutions and policies to commit to environmental education. Some have included specific actions, such as reducing carbon emissions on campus.

More than 40 California districts and county offices of education have adopted climate change resolutions since 2017 as part of a national effort started by Schools for Climate Action, a California-based advocacy initiative led by science teacher Park Guthrie and his students at Salmon Creek Middle School in Sonoma County.

Dozens of student organizations, teachers unions, and parent and teacher associations in California have passed similar resolutions.

Not all students are learning about climate change in class yet. Some teachers say that the topic is still unfamiliar territory and that there aren’t enough resources to incorporate it into their curriculum.

Oakland Unified is one of many districts around the state that is ramping up efforts to change that.

“We are behind the times when it comes to climate change education,” said Noah Canton, a middle school science teacher at the district’s Hillcrest Elementary School. “We desperately need to educate our students on this.”

In 2018, students at Oakland Technical High School made a presentation to the Oakland Unified school board about why climate change should be a higher instructional priority for the district.

In January, the board updated its policy on environmental education to explicitly mention climate change and committed to connecting district sustainability projects such as solar panel installation or school gardens to environmental education.

In April, the Oakland Youth Advisory Commission, a city commission that represents young people, passed its own resolution calling on Congress to act on climate change.

“If we aren’t educated on this topic, there’s no way we can improve as a community,” said Mia Fassi-Fihri, an eighth grade student at Hillcrest Elementary. “Climate change is one of the most pressing issues we face.”

The district’s previous environmental education policy did not mention climate change, according to Herberta Zulueta, secondary science coordinator for Oakland Unified. She said changing the policy was the first step to getting climate change education into more classrooms.

Districts from San Diego County to Los Angeles and Butte counties are taking different approaches with their climate change resolutions and are planning next steps.

At Salmon Creek Middle School, where Schools for Climate Action’s Guthrie teaches, students can enroll in a new elective course this school year where they can learn about climate change and advocacy.

The class is an offshoot of the resolution that the Harmony Union School District in Sonoma County passed in 2018 that says the district will engage with local, state and national officials who are advocating to reduce greenhouse gasses.

The students meet once a week for an hour and work on projects for Schools for Climate Action, such as working with statewide groups like the California Association of School Psychologists to pass resolutions similar to the one passed by their district last year.

“I’m looking through the lens of my sixth graders, and we have missed 10 days in the last two years in three different climaterelated disasters,” said Guthrie, referring to catastrophic events such as the Tubbs Fire in 2017. The district’s resolution has helped him frame these issues with a sense of hope.

“Having the school board clearly define climate change as a generational justice and equity issue creates a context of hope when I’m addressing climate change, because I can look the kids in the eye and tell them the adults in this community know this is not OK and we want to make sure we do everything we can to address it,” Guthrie said.

In the Chico Unified School District, officials

passed a resolution in March that focused on addressing climate change by making its buildings more energy efficient.

The district already had switched to practices such as buying local produce for school lunches. And the resolution aims to extend those efforts, for example, by increasing the use of solar energy.

Superintendent Kelly Staley said bringing climate change lessons into the classroom isn’t a focus for the district yet, however. “We are really using every single minute we have in the day.” Staley said. “When we look at everything we are mandated to teach, between English, math and P.E., it’s difficult to add new things.”

Several districts in California have set up climate crisis committees through a board resolution, Guthrie said.

In September, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, announced plans to introduce a resolution to encourage the teaching of climate change in U.S. schools. Many California school boards and education groups, such as the National School Boards Association, have yet to speak out explicitly about climate change.