Climate Equality in the Classroom: An Assessment of Climate Justice Education in Public Schools

Author: Steven Madden

Field of Study: Social Sciences

Program Affiliation: Source Project Research Program

Faculty Mentors: Matthew Cole

Easel: 57

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: Despite the US public education system expanding to include lessons on climate change, it often ignores climate justice, meaning that many students fail to understand the intersection between social inequality and global warming. As a result, they are faced with an incomplete view of a major problem in their soon-to-be future, despite schools intending to prepare them for the greater world. Thus, this paper explores current roadblocks preventing climate justice from being taught, such as growing right-wing pressures and climate denial, and the pathways for expanding the subject within US schooling. My findings indicate that gaps in climate justice education–though expanding in some areas of the US–have seen progress in being filled, gradually making their way into more classrooms across the nation.