Why Earthwatch is supporting Teach the Future

9th December 2019

Teach the Future aims to reform the education system to address the subjects of the climate emergency and ecological crisis.

 

The campaign has six demands about education on the climate crisis. These include a Climate Emergency Education Act and a government into the education system and how it is preparing students for the climate crisis.

 

The demands come at a crucial time for young people. In a recent survey by the National Union of Students and the Green Schools Project, 96% of students felt they did not know a lot about climate change, and in an Oxfam/UKSCN teachers survey, 75% of teachers felt they haven’t received adequate training to educate students about climate change.

 

Earlier this year, in a guest blog on the Earthwatch website, Chair of Earthwatch Europe, Lucian Hudson, and writer on the environment and climate campaigner Peter Hudson, wrote that in dealing with the climate crisis “[p]erhaps above all, there needs to be a ramping up of public education programmes and of education for the young, for those who will have to take tough decisions in the future.”

 

At Earthwatch we believe that it is vital that young people are equipped with the skills they need to prepare for the future they will inherit.

 

“Through Earthwatch’s learning programmes, it is our experience that an increasing number of teachers want to educate their students about the climate crisis,” says Learning and Engagement Manager, Megan Evans. “The time students have spent learning outdoors has been decreasing for a number of years, leading to a lack of both engagement with and desire to protect nature. This is why Teach the Future is so important, and why we’re committed to inspiring educators to take environmental action.”

 

Find out more about Earthwatch Europe’s work with schools.