Environmental educators in the Bay Area and beyond are interested in discussing climate change in their programs but face challenges. These challenges range from not having enough time to go through all of the available resources to desiring more climate related professional development opportunities. This is a missed opportunity given that environmental institutions like parks, zoos, and aquariums can help make climate change more tangible through place-based and experiential learning.
According to a 2014 needs assessment, the biggest barrier that Bay Area environmental educators have to talking about climate change is a lack of internal capacity. This includes time, staffing, funding, and also professional development, particularly in the latest scientific information and basic communications strategies. While many new educator resources have cropped up in the past few years, even the best quality resources are not necessarily being used because many educators do not have the time to comb through them.
As a group run by environmental educators, BayCLIC is keenly aware of challenges that educators face and intends to make integrating climate change into educational programming as simple as possible. In the fall of 2017, BayCLIC will be putting out a climate education roadmap, which will provide educators with a concise step-based process for how to talk about climate. In the meantime, educators can look over BayCLIC’s recommend climate education resources as a starting point, located below.
