When I say ‘climate’ and ‘education’ in the same sentence, many will think of climate change education, a subject that focuses on the science of rising temperatures and extreme weather events. However, climate change exists not just in textbooks and geography classes, but in everyday lives. After a spate of climate disasters last year, it has become abundantly clear that no place in the world is climate-proof.
Climate conferences such as the United Nations Climate Change Conference have been building more multi-thematic agendas, showing that the ripple effects of climate change are not just warmer days but a whole series of social, economic, health, mental, and political impacts. The activists, politicians, educators, civil society, and the private sector delegates that attend these conferences every year indicate that this is a problem that we all face, just in varying degrees.
Faced with such an overwhelming challenge, we instinctively search for solutions. But climate change is not just an environmental issue, it is a symptom of a deeper, systemic problem: the way we think, the way we build, and the way we educate. For decades, some groups have seen nature as a resource to be exploited rather than a part of our shared home that needs to be respected and, in some cases, protected. Worse yet, this way of life has quietly crept into our concepts of human development. Regardless, the solution to our shared problem needs to start somewhere.
Amid global calls for carbon reduction and green energy, one solution remains overlooked: education. Education does more than create skilled workers; it shapes values, nurtures critical thinking, and equips people with the ability to innovate and adapt. It can break cycles of poverty, strengthen economies, and build resilient communities. But most relevantly, it can redefine our relationship with the planet. Education is a tool for getting closer to the root of our shared climate crisis.
Students, wide-eyed and ready to learn, spend much of their formative years in schools, which means it is the perfect space for reimagining the world and instilling the values needed to move towards a sustainable future. Across the globe, some schools have already become ‘hubs for climate action’, teaching learners environmental and agricultural skills relevant to their context, and enabling them to be agents of change for climate action.
However, this connection between climate action and education requires that we rethink the purpose and methods of education. In a world where economies, jobs, and technology are rapidly changing, our areas of study matter less than the skills and competencies we gain.
We talk about the need for skills and innovation from our workforces, yet still place students in rigid curricula, and test them against standardized tests that bear limited significance. What we really need are schools that connect students to the world they live in and to be custodians of the world that they inhabit, not just to prepare them for life after school. This requires a great deal of unfettered imagination.
There is no (right) way to completely change our world order. However, we can productively dismantle faulty systems and replace them with better ones. If our current education systems are feeding into jobs that are part of unsustainable economies, we need to stop preparing students for these jobs that will not exist. While the careers waiting for graduates will change based on where economies are heading, we ought to prepare students for a more sustainable world. Practically, this may mean focusing on competencies and skills, rather than just subjects.
This paradigm shift isn’t just theoretical, it’s already happening in places like Costa Rica and Finland. Costa Rica’s curriculum integrates environmental education across all subjects, emphasizing eco-tourism and renewable energy skills. Finland introduced concepts like ecological thinking and circular economies into its core curriculum, supported by experiential learning modules.
I am not advocating for loading up curricula with more climate topics, for burdening teachers with more to teach, or for students to only learn about caring for the environment. What needs to happen, however, is that everyone involved in education – educators, governments, researchers, the private sector – must contribute to a thought experiment that reimagines the life and journey of a student in a climate resilient and sustainable world.
The climate crisis demands bold action and imagination. The question is: will we give younger generations the tools to dream, build, and lead in a way that protects and transforms our shared home for the better? Or will we keep producing cogs for a broken machine?
The choice is ours, and the time is now. Let’s choose to educate dreamers and builders that will shape a better tomorrow.
