Climate change and educationby | 04-01-2015 11:20 |
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Education is the basis of development. Without knowledge it is impossible to initiate actions. To address the problems of climate change needs to reflect human behavior and proper analysis of human intervention in environment. One needs to understand the environment, society and economy to understand the root cause of climate change. This root cause along with its solution is embodied within the society and human nature which is unpacked through education. While I am talking about education I mean both formal and informal education. UN declared 2005-2014 as "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (DESD) to promote sustainable development through education. During the decade UN considered climate change as the priority. It is expected that with the completion of DESD, actors will be "respectful of the earth and life in all its diversity." DESD also recognized that to achieve sustainable development one should also tackle global warming which is possible through education. UNESCO has identified education as a cross cutting issue to address climate change. It believes that education is needed for public awareness, and capacity building of societies and states. And it promotes climate change education as a central element of the global response to climate change. Meanwhile I quite agree with argument made by Mckewon and Hopkins (n.d.) that the world needs to rethink about climate change education. In this regards, Richmond (2011) states, Climate change education should aim not only to foster public understanding of climate change and "climate literacy" among students, but also to reorient the entire education system to achieve low-emission and climate- resilient development. This includes, for example, rethinking unsustainable lifestyles and promoting responsible consumption, "greening" technical and vocational education and training, integrating disaster preparedness in education, and building safe and green schools. Moreover Mckewon and Hopkins argue that the climate change education should be more than science in order to bring about the desired outcome. I too believe that since climate change is not just environmental problem we should also incorporate social, economic and cultural perspective. From this point of view, if the climate change education delivers what it is expected to then, there is high possibility that certain problems of the climate change (that are also associated with sustainable development) are addressed. Meanwhile beyond schools, colleges and universities people in indigenous communities are educated enough to tackle the problems with changing environment. Though they are usually tagged as illiterate they have understanding of their local environment. Their education has aided them to cope with the existing adversities of climate change. But still it is not just the knowledge that has aided them in surviving their assets beyond education such as social, physical, financial and human assets also play vital role in addressing the problems. I completely agree that education is crucial to every action and education ensures informed decision making while taking any action. There is no doubt that if children are educated then we are likely to see and ensure a better future. But will the knowledge and its translation into behavior of people will be enough to address the problems of climate change. Since we have already damaged the system to result more vulnerability to human civilization, is having knowledge to mitigate, adapt and be resilient to adversities of climate change enough? And are the educated people are acting rationally to address the problems of climate change? |