CLIMATE LITERACY is alarmingly low in High School Students
And school districts and teachers aren’t in a position to change the current trajectory.
Did you know?
4 in 5 high school students say they don’t understand the causes, impacts or solutions to climate change.
80% of teachers say they should teach students about climate, but they spend on average only 1-2 hours per year, citing a lack of knowledge, training and easy to leverage materials.
Teens Feel anxious and sad about climate
A global study found that 59% of young people say they feel very or extremely worried about climate change, and 45% say their feelings about climate change negatively affect their daily lives.
Many report feeling sad, anxious, angry, and powerless — showing that the climate crisis is not just an environmental issue, but a mental health one too.
Resilience Helps Empower Teens
Providing teens with agency and resilience education reduces climate anxiety and fosters hope for a sustainable future.
Youth engaged in climate efforts report a 45% decrease in feelings of helplessness.
Additionally, those involved in environmental activism are 60% more likely to develop positive coping skills and pursue careers in sustainability.
Climate Literacy IMproves Climate Trajectories
The effects of climate change are already here. Today’s high school students will live through the next 60-80 years of its unfolding impacts.
A climate-literate generation is critical to addressing these challenges and creating a more sustainable world.
If 16% of high school students in the US were climate literate, it would result in a reduction of 10 gigatons of carbon emissions by 2050.
That is equivalent to taking all the cars off the roads in California during the same time period!
This makes climate education one of the most effective tools in fighting climate change, even more impactful than some technological solutions.