By Mallory Rutigliano
The Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter has recently revitalized its statewide Education Committee, and students are taking notice. The Committee aims to spread information and curiosity about climate change, environmental justice, and other pressing issues facing New York and its unique ecosystem. We know that climate change can feel overwhelming, particularly to those young individuals who look at a long future ahead of them gripped by the what-ifs of pollution and climate chaos. To make sense of our environmental crisis, we must come together, gather important insights, and act now to secure our shared future.
Young individuals tend to care more about climate change than older generations on average, with 70% of adults 18-34 worrying about “global warming” compared to 56% of those 55 or older, as per a survey published by Yale Climate Connections and George Mason University in 2019. However, while younger individuals may be more concerned generationally, education systems have not caught up to this need for information. In a recent book, Miseducation: How Climate Change is Taught in America, author Katie Worth highlights that there is no standard for teaching climate change across the U.S. and that teachers even contradict one another within the same schools, confusing students. New York State has recently introduced a piece of legislation that would require climate change education in public schools (S.5661), but how this would be implemented across the board if it were enacted could still be a question – the current bill purpose specifies teaching climate change in science courses, which is where environmental learning typically lives if it does at all. However, this doesn’t remove the possibility for contradiction or interpretation, highlighting the need to support students outside of the classroom should legislation move forward or not.
The Education Committee is focused on education at multiple levels, including through its most recent new initiative, the Student Environmental Action Society, or SEAS, program. SEAS is a free monthly, virtual program designed to engage students across the state in discussion on environmental justice. They do this by joining monthly meetings with other students to talk about what they are learning, doing, and feeling; They read, watch, and listen to short materials to prompt discussion and learn what others are doing across the globe and locally, with a focus on youth activism. It looks and sounds like a student book club, but with an immediate outlet for action through our Sierra Club groups and Chapter. Students in our groups have already expressed that they want to take action now, but don’t know how, and that they don’t learn enough about climate change in school. The program accepts students on a rolling basis and is partnered with local community organizations, schools, and teachers.
If you are a teacher, educator, parent, student, or any other interested person, please consider reaching out and connecting with us. Contact: mallory.rutigliano@newyork.sierraclub.org or visit our website and sign up form at:https://sierranyeducation.wixsite.com/seas-program