Abstract
Climate change is a dangerous problem that endangers the continuation of life. The sixth major extinction catastrophe in recorded history is being brought on by climate change. There is an existential threat to life on Earth from the climate changes brought on by the use of fossil fuels. Education increases young people's knowledge while simultaneously fostering awareness, enabling informed decision-making, and fostering changes in attitudes and behaviors. Education is essential to the global response to climate change. Climate change education (CCE) is one of the most significant approaches to increasing awareness of mitigating climate change. The majority of students must receive the knowledge, critical thinking skills, scientific understanding, and ethical frameworks necessary to prevent, adapt, and reverse climate change as a result of climate change education. Climate change education initiatives can play a significant role in developing communities of the kind of pragmatic visionaries needed to address new issues as they emerge and build on the successes of others.
TopIntroduction
Industrialization fueled by fossil fuels has made possible the greatest human boom in recorded history. However, it also contributes to extraordinarily severe, long-lasting pollution that is upsetting the planet's ecosystems. The pollution is cumulative, dating back to the start of the industrial period, 200 years ago, and takes between 12 to more than 50,000 years for greenhouse gas emissions to be reabsorbed from the atmosphere (Irwin, 2020).
By equipping students with the skills necessary for green employment, which are specialised occupations, education plays a crucial role in empowering learners with competences for sustainability (Okada & Gray, 2023). Education plays a crucial role in the worldwide response to climate change since it increases young people's knowledge while also promoting awareness, enabling informed decision-making, and promoting changes in attitudes and behaviors toward adopting sustainable lifestyles (Ouariachi & Wim, 2020). The greatest value of education is found in the transformative potential of adaptation learning support curriculum, pedagogy, and technological tools that assist people in learning while making complicated adaptive decisions (Feinstein & Mach, 2020). One of the most important ways to raise awareness about mitigating climate change is through climate change education (CCE) (Park, Choe, & Kim, 2020). Researchers have recently begun to stress the significance of including emotional components in education for sustainable development (ESD). Two justifications are frequently presented: The first worry is that students may experience negative feelings like worry and guilt due to the complexity and importance of sustainability challenges like climate change (Ojala, 2021). Climate Change and Sustainability Education (CCSE) is necessary for societies all over the world to support responsible development, including environmental protection, welfare, and the green economy (Okada & Gray, 2023). Developing green skills to ensure healthy living, new occupations, and just societies is seen to require putting the appropriate educational frameworks in place (Okada & Gray, 2023).
Even though addressing climate change (CC) through education remains a top priority on the international agenda, educationalists, climate scientists, and those who shape or make policy related to climate or education still have insufficient knowledge of what this entails (Mochizuki & Bryan, 2015). The sustainability of ecosystems and the socioeconomic system that supports human health are at risk due to climate change, which is a major problem. To prepare for climate change, increase public health and eco-health literacy, deepen learning, and strengthen graduate qualities, they have provided evidence for the need for a climate change curriculum in education (Maxwell & Blashk, 2016). The case for incorporating climate change education into medical education is compelling. Internationally, scientists, governments, and health authorities all acknowledge the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Climate change has serious ramifications for human health, making it important for aspiring doctors (Maxwell & Blashk, 2016). Future doctors have the chance to gain the knowledge and skills necessary for clinical practice and a public health role in a world with climate change by integrating climate change into medical school (Maxwell & Blashk, 2016). Discovering the degree of curriculum integration is necessary to rectify any gaps and ensure that climate change education is implemented properly in schools (Boakye, 2015). An important part of sustainability education is teaching students to recognise, understand, and resolve issues that have an impact on the planet's life now and in the future (Okada & Gray, 2023).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Industrialization: Industrialization is the process of moving a country or region's economy away from reliance on agriculture and towards one that is driven by industry.
Anthropocene Age: It is an acronym for a new geologic era, one that is characterized by our own profound influence on the earth.
Sustainable Lifestyle: Understanding how the world around us is impacted by our lifestyle decisions is essential to sustainable living, as is figuring out how to make everyone's life better and lighter.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD): Every person has the opportunity to learn the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values required to create a sustainable future through education for sustainable development.
Climate Change Education: Giving people the knowledge, abilities, values, and attitudes necessary to be change agents, it enables them to comprehend and address the effects of the climate catastrophe.
Climate Change: Long-term modifications to weather and temperature patterns are referred to as climate change. Such changes may occur naturally as a result of variations in the sun's activity or significant volcanic eruptions.
Anthropogenic Climate Change: Emissions of greenhouse gases are caused by human-induced activities, such as the use of energy, industrial operations, the use of solvents and other products, agriculture, land use change and forestry, and garbage.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Our world is supposed to change thanks to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They are a call to action to eradicate poverty and injustice, safeguard the environment, and guarantee the prosperity, justice, and health of all people. It is essential that nobody is forgotten.
Green House Gas Emission: Human-related greenhouse gas emissions increase the greenhouse effect and fuel climate change. Coal, oil, and natural gas combustion produce the majority of carbon dioxide.