Some clear curriculum thinking is required here, and my own “recipe” for a robust approach to climate change education in schools would certainly include the following components:
- Climate: What it is, how it differs from weather, why it varies from place to place and over time.
- Climate change: Data over different timescales, the reasons for these changes, and the types of effects produced.
- Anthropogenic climate change since the 19th century: Its causes and its effects, including the environmental, social and economic challenges experienced in different places and why these vary.
- Future climate modelling: Interpreting this data and interpreting future scenarios globally and for different places around the world.
- Policy and personal choices: The choices that face us now and which may also lie ahead, including the choices that need to be made around mitigation or adaptation, with examples at scales from the individual to the international illustrating what has already been done.
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