Teachers are noticing rising climate anxiety among students and are adopting trauma-sensitive methods to support them.
Professional development for educators includes outdoor learning, interdisciplinary inquiry, and balanced climate action strategies.
Sharing hopeful stories and focusing on community-led climate initiatives helps nurture a forward-looking mindset.
Why this matters:
Climate change education that acknowledges and addresses students' emotional responses can foster resilience and hope. As young people face an uncertain future, equipping them with strategies to cope with climate trauma is essential for their mental health and engagement in meaningful climate action.
Kids today will face a future with more severe droughts, stronger storms, and rising sea levels. Yet many schools are not preparing students for the climate of tomorrow.
Some teachers are reinventing the way students are educated about climate change, but it's far from the norm - and with a looming UCP curriculum overhaul, students and teachers are left worrying about what's next.
Several states have recently introduced bills that could interfere with the teaching of scientifically founded theories on climate change in public school science curricula.
A bill that would allow school districts to teach Florida students alternatives to concepts deemed “controversial theories” — such as human-caused climate change and evolution — has been filed in the state Legislature.
In most schools, climate change is still just starting to make its way into classrooms, and many teachers don't have the training or the resources they need to teach it.
