Analysis

Education has a key role to play in building understanding of the causes of climate change and the solutions, validating public concern, and building consensus and confidence for action. Everyone needs to have a base level of climate literacy and a core understanding of climate impacts in their community, along with proactive measures that can be taken to mitigate and adapt At a time when the public is overwhelmed by the combined stresses of the economic uncertainty, political polarization and climate change, the mobilization around New York’s new law is an opportunity to raise awareness and enthusiasm about the solutions that are within our power to implement, and build morale as well as participation.

While 72% of the population believes that climate change is happening, and 63% say they are “alarmed” or “concerned” about it, only 57% believe that humans are mostly responsible. Fewer than half the population – 43% – believe that climate change will harm them.   At the same time, 78% of those surveyed believe climate change should be taught in schools. Clearly, there is work to be done on the gap between the public perceptions and scientific predictions.  Education is the leverage point for closing this gap by  building understanding of the causes of climate change and the solutions, validating public concern, and building consensus and confidence for action. 

Young people are deeply concerned about climate change and aware of its potentially grave impacts in their lifetimes. A Princeton Review 2021 survey of 11,000 high school students and 3,000 parents of high school students asked to what degree a commitment to the environment in academics played in their choice in choosing a college.  Seventy-five percent responded that this was somewhat/very/extremely likely to influence their decision in choosing a college, compared with 66% just a year earlier. 

The climate crisis is an opportunity for educators at every level to inspire students as creative problem solvers and advocates, strengths that will also prepare them for climate related jobs.  This requires a serious investment in teacher training and support, field and lab experiences,  and after-school programs.  If this is raised up as a common focus, clearly the region has the expertise and capacity to spearhead this effort and serve as a model for others. 

In today’s polarized political climate, unfortunately climate change has been subject to vast amounts of misinformation and widely used as a wedge issue.  Developing a public education campaign to help dispel misinformation, find common ground, and promote mutual understanding is essential.  As the Scoping Plan is translated into policy, the next two years are a critical period to build a climate-informed electorate in order to combat disinformation and keep enthusiasm strong.      

Education is a significant economic sector in our region.  The Valley’s educational assets include:

• Dozens of colleges and universities and a high quality community college system.

• Government resources like the NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program and the Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve. 

• Centers for holistic learning and human development such as the Omega and Garrison Institutes.

• Dedicated educational centers including the Dutchess BOCES Center for Sustainability and Climate Education and the Mid-Hudson Teacher Center.

• Professional training centers such as the Culinary Institute of America and Stockade Works.

• Environmental organizations with extensive educational programming, including climate-centered organizations such as Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Citizens Climate Lobby.

• Outdoor education centers and resources such as Clearwater, Mohonk Preserve, the Ashokan Center and the Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES Center for Environmental Education.

• Research centers with strong educational programs such as the Cary Institute and Columbia Climate School.

• The Cooperative Extension System.

• Partners for Climate Action Hudson Valley as a capacity building organization that hosts the growing Hudson Valley Climate Action Network.

• Rotary Clubs, which have just adopted Environment as a new program focus area.   

So far, these assets have not been systematically mobilized in a call to informed action, organized to help a critical mass of the public understand the climate emergency and how they can respond with impact.  The 2013 Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan contained a pair of provocative ideas about making use of the Valley’s substantial assets in educational institutions, that have not been fully implemented:

•  The Valley as an epicenter for education for sustainability, a destination people come to for professional development and inspiration.  We have the institutions, motivated educators and a wealth of curricula.  We need a more public-facing focus to integrate more applied research and project-based learning that can attract skilled professionals and non-traditional learners to work together in support of local climate solutions.

• The Valley as a test bed for new technology and policy approaches. From low-carbon building materials to climate- friendlier wastewater treatment technologies to materials that replace plastics, there is a major and timely opportunity to demonstrate new technologies and bolster the businesses that generate them.

Increasingly, educators and advocates are organizing to make more creative strategies possible at scale.  Hudson Valley Climate Solutions Week, an annual “event of events” produced by Sustainable Hudson Valley, has laid groundwork for this wider initiative.  While receiving expanded media attention in 2022 (including coverage on WAMC) Climate Solutions Week has not yet broken through to a mainstream audience with the vigor and consistency that is needed.

Education about this strategy and the NYS Climate Act

It is timely to produce a coordinated, two-year public educational campaign about the NYS Climate Act and the action opportunities we have outlined.  Its elements should include:

• A consistent core message about climate change, solutions, the NYS Climate Law and regional opportunities, including the spectrum of green jobs;

• Flexible additional content relevant to audiences;

• A robust speakers’ bureau of at least several dozen engaging experts capable of delivering this content consistently and through diverse media (formal lectures, workplace and school-based presentations, radio/ TV, video);

• A publicity and booking function to bring presentations and media exposure consistently out into communities around the Valley, especially to audiences of influencers and to likely swing voters.

• Skilled social media support to bring the content consistently into conversations on key platforms.
  

Case Study: Energy Coaching

The Clean Energy Coaching program by NY for Clean Power offers personalized guidance to New Yorkers interested in transitioning to clean energy solutions. The program connects individuals with expert coaches who provide advice on energy efficiency, renewable energy options, and how to reduce carbon footprints. This initiative is designed to empower residents and businesses to make informed decisions about sustainable energy practices, contributing to the state’s broader climate goals. NYCP’s Energy Coaches are experts and enthusiasts who invest time to make sure people actually understand the complexities of their buildings and choices. You really can ask an energy coach almost anything!

Creating a climate-informed educational system

There is a more systemic need for literacy in science, technology and critical thinking to support the next generation in climate activism and relevant careers.  Education about climate solutions and the underlying science is inconsistent in quality and availability from one district to another, and so is access to the necessary technologies such as computers and broadband, making education for leadership and for well paying careers a core environmental justice issue.  All communities need access to high quality critical thinking and learning environments to promote greater environmental literacy.  In order to effectively advocate for strengthened, more consistent sustainability education in a way that reflects and incorporates local concerns, the empowered involvement of local communities is critical.

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods are a proven tool for empowering environmentally-compromised neighborhoods and regions using simple, scalable approaches such as policy education, mentoring, and school-community partnerships. For example:

• WE ACT’s (West Harlem Environmental Action) community based research into Harlem’s high asthma rates and related mortality numbers, conducted by local high school students, spurred the conversion of New York City’s bus fleet to cleaner fuel systems.  

• Groundwork Hudson Valley has made coordinated use of GIS mapping to document climate stresses and environmental justice dimensions, and community-engaged learning programs making use of its Science Barge to bring the issues home.  

• The Billion Oyster Project’s partnerships with 100 NYC schools, across the five boroughs, have similarly engaged students in the central work of restoring oyster reefs to New York Harbor.  

Educational institutions are communities in their own right.   Schools can be leaders on climate in ways that extend beyond the classroom, where the institutions themselves showcase examples of sustainability on site and for their communities, where students are empowered participants instead of passive observers.  Teacher professional development that incorporates the values of sustainability, where training goes beyond how to meet standards, will provide students with more effective role models for the challenges ahead. School administrators are also educators. Armed with information, they are in a position to operate their buildings and other physical plant operations (food service, transportation, buildings and grounds maintenance) in an environmentally responsible manner that may actually improve cost-effectiveness as well as modeling effective practices and creating direct benefits to the learning environment and student/ teacher health. 

In higher education, innovative programs including graduate and professional development offerings, covering the spectrum of climate solution topics, are important for work force professional development and can raise the profile of climate solutions content through community-based student and faculty research. The Environmental Consortium of Colleges and Universities -- formed to bridge between campus and community - was a membership organization representing 50 institutions in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys. It produced conferences, developed joint hands-on curricula, created scholarship programs and more.  While inactive recently, the Consortium’s informal institutional network remains and can serve as connective tissue for efforts to bring climate education onto campus – and campus educators into the community.  

It is timely to infuse climate and environmental literacy throughout the region’s educational system as a long-range investment, creating a pathway from early childhood onward for education and civic engagement.  This includes the curriculum development and teacher training to ensure success.  An assessment of needs and opportunities in the Valley’s school districts could be undertaken as part of the planning for the more immediate two-year campaign, inviting educators who are active in the field to participate as speakers and to explore opportunities in their own schools.  Rallying the educational ecosystem into coordinated action could be started with a series of linked conferences for educators, school administrators and others on aspects of climate education and workforce development.