“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Mandela). These words spoken by Nelson Mandela highlight the importance of education. Education is the greatest tool that can be weaponized to create change. It creates the spark within all of us. Yet, climate education is not standardized across our schools.

Is this because teachers are climate deniers? No. I hardly think so. In fact, 66% of Canadians and 75% of teachers believe that schools need to educate students more about climate change. However, teachers point out that there is not enough time, not enough classroom resources, and no professional knowledge of climate change.

Now this is not to say that schools are not trying their best to integrate climate change. Some have made great strides in educating their students and larger communities. For instance, St. Mary’s Academy in New Brunswick has been working on a long term project to convert their entire campus into clean energy. The students are spearheading the entire project from cost analysis and efficiency, the installing of the panels and a self-watering system.

St. Mary’s story is a great example of climate education today, but with some tweaks to our education system, we can do so much more if we rework our curriculum.

If you want to learn more: click here to see Rohan’s Green Deal (Scroll Down to Education or Use CMD F/CTRL F to search Education), click here to learn more the baseline environmental curriculum for schools, and click here to see the baseline curriculum