Commentary: Textbooks need to stress the gravity of climate change

NEW YORK: In 2007, the world's largest body assessing climate change said with "great confidence" that humans are one of the main drivers of climate change.

But you may not understand that humans are responsible for climate change if you take a look at the most popular documents on the curriculum of American high schools produced in the following years.

At the time, many school materials did not communicate with the scientific consensus that human activity was one of the main drivers of climate change. This is one of the main conclusions of our line-by-line analysis of five science textbooks, four social studies textbooks and eight sets of complementary learning materials produced in the five years following the 2007 report.

These 17 resources – all designed for American high school classes – were selected based on their widespread use to enable us to better understand the content related to climate change seen by the largest number of American students.

We found that many US curriculum documents communicate a distorted or incomplete view of the severity, scope and cause of global climate change. In addition, these resources have a small number of options to solve the problem.

CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE PAVED

Nine resources in our study reflected the scientific consensus that human activity was one of the major drivers of climate change, but we found that six others – including several science textbooks – were hesitant, communicating their findings. Uncertainty about the conclusions expressed in the 2007 flagship report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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For example, an Earth Sciences textbook published in 2010 states that "researchers are trying to determine if the increase (in temperature) is a natural variation or the result of human activities".

Similarly, a geography textbook published in 2012 indicates that scientists "do not all agree on the nature of global warming and its effects".

"Some claim that the natural cycle, not human activity, is at the origin of rising temperatures," says this manual.

Others claim that the evidence of global warming is inconclusive.

Such messages suggest that humans may not be responsible for climate change – and that global warming itself could be a myth. These ideas were common in some of the programs studied.

Two additional sets of material directly contest the idea that human activities are at the root of climate change, one calling this notion "far from settled".

These programs helped shape the opinion of young Americans who are now 20 years old. More importantly, there is a good chance that many of these materials are still in use now, as some teachers only have access to aging textbooks.

A little is mentioned about climate change

Beyond the fact that some publishers were protected against global climate change, we also found that they provided limited content on the impact of climate change.

12 of the 17 program resources did not mention extreme weather events, such as droughts and hurricanes.

Only two of the resources we examined had more than five sentences on the growing challenge of access to safe drinking water. About half completely ignored the problem.

When materials explored the effects of climate change, they often described these issues as fairly distant, for example in Alaska and northern Canada, but not in the continental United States.

Some documents explain how such impacts could affect countries, but many provide only vague information on these topics.

POTENTIAL RESPONSE

The materials in our study have almost entirely focused on mitigation strategies, such as energy conservation. This is important because the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other leading scientific organizations agree that the fight against global warming and its impacts will also require an adaptation, maybe even a geo-engineering.

Since adaptation strategies, such as land-use change and the development of drought-resistant crops, will be useful in coping with the impacts described above, we believe that the material school should explore these ideas.

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However, many papers focused solely on individual responses – such as turning off lights and driving less – instead of collective or political responses.

Social studies materials have more often emphasized the need for government action, but we are concerned about the degree of student awareness of political solutions in science courses.

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other prominent scientists have made clear, society must take substantial steps to prevent the worst consequences of climate change.

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It is true that some American states are working to improve climate change education and to make young people aware of the seriousness of the situation.

For example, as part of a major climatology initiative in Washington State, approximately $ 1 million is allocated in the form of grants to non-profit community organizations to work with school districts. to improve student understanding and solve problems related to local environmental issues. "

Indiana University researchers train teachers on the "science of climate change and its expected impact on the state".

This kind of effort, and more, will be needed to prepare young people for future challenges.

There is still time, but schools need to ensure that the teaching materials communicate what scientists have been saying for more than 10 years now: that humans are responsible for climate change, that impacts will be serious and that we must respond wisely.

Brett Levy is an Assistant Professor of Theory and Practice of Education at the University of Albany, at State University of New York. Lauren Collet-Gildard is a graduate student and humanities teacher at the same university. Casey Meehan is Sustainability Coordinator at the Western Technical College.

A version of this comment appeared for the first time in The Conversation. Read it here.