After reading the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report in August 2021, I felt that I needed to learn more about climate change and add it to the curriculum for my students. The sustainability coordinator at my school had been encouraging me to do so and she was the one who forwarded the information to me about this course.

I knew a lot about sustainability and waste, but not so much about climate change. I understood that the earth was warming and humans were responsible for that warming. I was worried about it, but I did not think about it in my day to day. I was more focused on eliminating plastic from my life.

My second semester classes already focused on sustainability – where it comes from and where it goes to – so climate change was an easy topic to fit in. The work with students before had been more about waste and plastic pollution. After the course, I focused on teaching my students (5th graders) about the basics of climate change – the difference between climate and weather, what is a greenhouse gas and what is the greenhouse effect. I have created and taught two new lessons; weather vs. climate and greenhouse gasses. Our next lesson will focus on what are the main causes of climate change and the difference between mitigation strategies and adaptation strategies.

Finally, I am in the process of creating lessons that will include information about declaring a climate emergency and how to take action. I plan on working with my students to teach them about how to take action – how they can write to their representatives, how to spread the word about climate change.

My students are very interested and some are angry that they don’t see more being done about climate change. I tell them all the time that by talking about it with their family and friends they are already taking action to change things. They now understand climate and weather and can explain it to others. They also now understand the greenhouse effect and what greenhouse gasses do. They are better prepared and ready to spread the word!

The course made me realize that so many people do not understand the science behind climate change and this is one of the reasons why they are unsure about what to do. It is so big that many people cannot comprehend it or think it is still years and years away.I would say that as teachers we have a responsibility to teach about climate change. Students have climate anxiety and seeing teachers and other responsible adults in their lives taking action helps ease that anxiety. I do not think I could look my students in the eye in ten years if I didn’t teach it and take action. How could I say to them – I knew, and I did nothing.

Not only did this course help my teaching, but it has added a greater sense of purpose to my work as a teacher. This is a critical time to be teaching and taking action on this topic. It’s a historic moment to be alive and to be advocating for change both in the classroom and the world.