Climate Age

In recent years, a number of national surveys have looked at the level of support that parents, voters and educators have for teaching the basics of climate change in schools. For climate education advocates, the findings offer significant hope.

In 2019, for example, a survey by National Public Radio and Ipsos found that 84% of parents support climate education in schools and only 6% very clearly opposed it being taught (about 10% had no opinion or didn’t know). The same survey of educators showed similar results by reporting that 86% approved and 8% disapproved.  U.S. adults, overall, gave climate education in schools a 78% approval rating with 10% clearly objecting. There are three main takeaways from this NPR research: a) parents, with a more immediate stake in their kids’ education, are more supportive of climate education than non-parents, b) educators are right there with the parents in their support, and c) only about one in 10 adult American affirmatively object to climate education in schools.   

Another national survey (2021), by Yale and George Mason University, found that 77% of U.S. voters support schools teaching climate education and 22% were not supportive.  The Yale/GMU study had a larger sample size than the NPR survey and was able to drill down to the county level, all 3,000 of them.  Looking at an interactive map of these findings shows that every single county, nationwide, has a majority of voters in favor of climate education in schools and that 95% of the counties have an about two-thirds or higher level of support.

With 77% of voters and 84% of parents thinking it is a good idea to teach climate change in schools, educators have an opportunity to cover its causes, consequences and solutions.  But, a portion of the10% of people who disagree with it being in schools can be quite loud in their opposition and this can have a chilling effect. Even when climate is taught, opponents will often insist that the science is not settled and alternative theories should be presented.  They often refuse to consider that their alternative theories have been debunked. Indeed, two things are true about public views of climate education in schools. Most people think it is a good idea, even in the nation’s most conservative areas, and the much smaller number of opponents can loudly assert that the science is debatable or they can get it outright removed from the curriculum.

In future articles, we will look at this reality more closely. It is a phenomenon with similarities to the recent spate of school book bans famously brought on by tiny groups of vocal parents. Parents should definitely have a solid role in their children’s education.  The good news is that, for climate change education, most of them are on board. But climate change is also caught up in some of the same culture wars as book bans. This need to be overcome and federal state and local policies and funding need to reflect how crucial it is for young people to have the knowledge and skills they will need to address and reverse an ever warming climate trend.