Italy just decided to require all children in public schools to study climate change and sustainability. Sadly, this is far from the norm in most places. In fact, many places still force schools to teach outright climate change denialism. This is not only morally reprehensible, it's dangerous! It's especially bad in the U.S. where climate change denial runs rampant and the country is responsible for so many carbon emissions. Some studies even show that the US bears the biggest responsibility for climate change.
Will you sign the petition calling on every U.S. state to require climate change and sustainability studies in public schools?
We are handing our children a dying world. That's just a fact. The least we can do is educate them about it. If children are raised with an understanding of how human activity has led to the collapse of the environment, they can then be a part of the solution in preventing more damage and reversing what's already been done to the extent that it's possible.
In Italy, the materials that will be taught will be developed by experts in the field and peer-reviewed. This means that Italian children are going to have the most up-to-date, scientifically accurate information about climate change and sustainability. Given that the U.S. is such a big fossil fuel polluter, U.S. children deserve to know that so as they grow and vote and eventually lead, they have the relevant information to make good decisions about their own future.
The Italian model will also be broken down by age group so that young kids are given information they are capable of internalizing at a given age. This is such a smart approach to making the cultural shifts we need in order to save our planet.
We must demand the U.S. follows suit. Right now the U.S. public education system is more or less ad-hoc and decided on a local level. But each state does have some say in what kids learn. Please sign on to tell U.S. states you want to see comprehensive info on climate change and sustainability taught in all public schools.
