Integrating Climate Action With Educational Goals

In the summer of 2024, Erin Smola (DeSales ’25), Rayna LeBlanc (Charter Arts ’25), and Samantha Semsel (Lafayette ‘25) completed this project, building on the work of previous interns and volunteers with the Alliance over the last ten years. Here is the introduction:

Many adults, including school staff, underestimate the knowledge of their students. Yet, every day, kids get exposed to huge amounts of information on the Internet and social media. If kids already hear about the climate crisis from online sources, wouldn’t it make sense to teach it in school? If students’ understanding of climate is built into their existing classes, it would also increase student engagement. An interdisciplinary approach to climate education prepares students for the challenges of a world threatened by climate change.

If your school has not already recognized the climate emergency and the critical need to prepare today’s young people, then teachers, students, and interested community members should encourage schools to adopt a climate & sustainability action plan that includes climate justice. (For ideas on this process, see our Teaching Climate website.) 

Two important concepts to address are mitigation and adaptation. Not only must we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but we must also develop ways to also adapt to the current and future effects of climate change—essential skills for today’s students. 

This plan is broken down into three interrelated areas: Curriculum, Facilities & Operations, and Community Engagement. See the PDF version for more information!   Integrating Climate Action With Educational Goals [PDF]

• Project website: Teaching Climate
• Project email: teach-climate@sustainlv.org.
• Project coordinator: Peter Crownfield

Background

The Alliance thanks Rachel Rubino (Lafayette College ’17), who helped shape initial directions for the project, and Megan Heintz (University of Pittsburgh ’18), who spent a summer helping develop background material, resources for teachers, and the spreadsheet-based School GHG Calculator.

In the fall of 2015, we finalized the initial version of this guide and the School GHG Calculator with invaluable help from student volunteers, including Ran Cao (Lafayette ’19) and Casey Banta-Ryan, Courtney Cohen, and Christina Lyons (Lafayette ’20). Alliance co-founder Martin W. Boksenbaum played a key role in completing the Interdisciplinary Teaching on Climate & Sustainability guide. 

In 2021, Haley Kerridge (Lafayette ’23) updated the Teaching Climate website and introduced a number of improvements, including new resources for teachers. 

This project also draws on work by intern Lindsay Meiman (Lehigh ’14), who developed the Climate and Sustainability Commitment adopted by the Bethlehem Area School District in 2014, in which they pledged to integrate climate and sustainability in curriculum and student activities, in facilities and operations, and in community engagement. Over the summer of 2014, Christina Cilento, (Northwestern ’17) and Nicole Karsch (Muhlenberg ’16) developed ideas for ways to implement the commitment, with additional assistance from Hannah Brosky (Lehigh ’18).

We also thank staff members and teachers from the Bethlehem Area School District and the Seven Generations Charter School in Emmaus, PA and faculty members at Lafayette College, Lehigh University, and Moravian University, all of whom helped shape our thinking.