Kimi Waite is a civics environmental education fellow with the North American Association for Environmental Education, and is an early career fellow with the UCLA Center for Diverse Leadership in Science in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She is a PhD candidate in sustainability education at Prescott College.
In April, the Los Angeles Unified School District unveiled the nation’s largest school-based air quality monitoring network, with sensors at 200 locations throughout the city. “This initiative is a perfect example of how we can integrate climate literacy into our curriculum,” said school board member Scott M. Schmerelson, who sponsored a climate literacy resolution that the board unanimously approved, making the district the first in the country to commit to a comprehensive overhaul of curricula.
California launched a statewide initiative to expand environmental and climate change literacy in 2019, while New Jersey has incorporated climate education across the curriculum in all grades and in all subjects. Such bold steps are, however, exceptions to the rule that, if climate change is taught at all in ... Read more