Climate Literacy
A sustainable future requires investing in future leaders.
Education is the first step.
Climate Education for a Sustainable Future
There is currently a climate literacy gap in education in most countries. We advocate for fit-for-purpose, systems-based learning that is experiential and geared towards future employment. Learning needs to be holistic, reflect the world and empower us to understand our place as a part of nature, rather than separate from it.
Curriculum Development
We are collaborating with The Harmony Project, National Wildlife Federation and CK-12 to develop a curriculum that puts environmental stewardship, biodiversity and climate resilience front and center for children and teens.
The goal is to help transform, through education, our understanding of the interdependent nature of the Global Commons, Earth’s life support systems. Fostering curiosity and experiential learning is key to developing lifelong leaders in sustainability with the skills to create the future we want.
The Harmony Project
The Harmony Curriculum based on the book of HRH the Prince of Wales: Harmony, a new way of looking at our world. Pioneered by celebrated UK headteacher Richard Dunne, the Harmony Project is a new approach to education grounded in principles of interdependence, cycles, diversity, adaptation, health, geometry, and oneness.
“If we want to create a sustainable future, nature will be our teacher”
— Richard Dunne, Founder of The Harmony Project and Advisor to Global Choices
Collaborating for Change
In line with our ethos of collaboration, we are working with others who share our belief that climate literacy needs to break away from silos and be interdisciplinary at its core, inspiring inquiring minds and engendering awe.
CK-12
The CK-12 Foundation is dedicated to ensuring every child has access to great education. The Foundation provides a library of free online textbooks, videos, exercises, flashcards, and real world applications for over 5000 concepts, from arithmetic to sustainability, to K-12 students all over the world. By providing these free resources to teachers and students, CK-12 is working toward educational equity for all.
National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation is the largest conservation organization in the USA, working across the country to give wildlife a voice. Through educational programs focused on conservation and environmental knowledge, the National Wildlife Federation provides ways to create a lasting base of environmental literacy, stewardship, and problem-solving skills for today’s youth.
Global Choices is an active partner of the Coalition for Climate Education: a diverse and cross sector coalition of organizations advocating for federal policies and cross-agency efforts to advance climate literacy in the United States.
With our partners, we are pushing for the passage of the Climate Change Education Act to support the development of climate literacy curricula, professional development for teachers, and science, technology, health and engineering education.
“Governments spend millions of dollars a year on education, yet climate change is not a significant focus. Our children are watching the world change before their eyes. Climate literacy must be a foundation stone in our education programs going forward.” — Dr. Leticia Guzman Ingram, Global Choices Education Consultant
“I saw the Arctic Up Close. Now I’m Using It to Teach Math” an article by Dr. Leticia Guzman Ingram
Educating is about Empowering through Information
Achieving our mission to drive action on the Ice Crisis motivates us to educate young and old on the reality of the looming extinction of the Polar ice and the consequential harm locally and globally.
Our intergenerational Arctic Angels and the Global Choices team regularly speak to diverse and global audiences. Ranging from addressing Heads of State at President Biden’s Leaders Climate Summit and business leaders at the Sustainable Investment Forum Europe to educators and philanthropists, our audiences encompass all sectors. We have participated in dialogues with renowned climate leaders and scientists like Sir David Attenborough, Johan Rockström and Bill McKibben.
Technology and collaboration with platform providers has enabled us to reach people across the world and made learning accessible, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our messaging has reached cumulatively more than 15 million through our participation in events hosted for example by the Nobel Peace Center, the United Nations, EarthDay.org, EarthX, Peace One Day, Horasis, Climate Action and others.
EarthDay.org Live
Sally Ranney, Bill McKibben, Xiye Bastida and Mitzi Jonelle Tan.
Sustainable Investment Forum Europe
Inge Relph and Divya Nawale, interviewed by Bloomberg’s Mark Barton.
Media
We educate through multi-media platforms on the Ice Crisis, the importance of intergenerational inclusion and the intersectionality of the feminine and sustainable leadership, social justice and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Our messaging has been featured by popular news platforms like the New Yorker, that featured Global Choices’ Co-Founder and President Sally Ranney, magazines like Are We Europe, Eco-Age and Atmos, and in podcasts like The Common Ground.
Our social media presence is growing apace, reaching 1 million around the world in the last year.
Learning from Others
Mentoring
Learning is not only facts and figures, but also sharing wisdom and experience. We invest significant time at Global Choices on mentoring our Arctic Angels in leadership and learning from them. Many are professional educators and through our Solution Sessions we share best practice.
Global Perspectives
Having a presence in more than 20 countries means we take into account different insights, including Indigenous wisdom, and can highlight local solutions.
“If people are encouraged to immerse themselves in Nature’s grammar and geometry…and how humanity has expressed it in so many great works of art and architecture – they are often led to acquire some remarkably deep, philosophical insights into the meaning and purpose of nature and to what it means to be aware and alive in this extraordinary universe.”
— HRH The Prince of Wales
“To prepare the next generation to face the challenges that come from a rapidly warming climate, it is up to our generation to provide the roadmap and tools to combat the crisis through both natural and technological solutions with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit.”
— Tracey Ritchie, PhD, Director of Education, EARTHDAY.ORG
Research, Resources and Activity
All that we do is anchored in good science. Since inception, Global Choices has engaged a researcher to collate the latest science and a broad range of thought leadership on environmental, social and economic factors that can help us to live within planetary boundaries.
In the spirit of collaboration, we open-source these resources. Our Resource Library is constantly updated and curated for you.
We also belong to numerous networks like the High Seas Alliance, Clean Arctic Alliance and the Antarctic Southern Ocean Coalition, promoting good science into policy reform and innovation.
Intergenerational Ripples
Encouragingly, research published in Nature (Lawson et al, 2019) suggests that “not only are children increasingly engaged in advocating for their future, they are also effective advocates to their parents” says climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University.
We love that it was daughters who were found to be most effective at changing minds on climate.
With our Arctic Angels, we regularly participate in Educational Summits educating on the Ice Crisis, highlighting all the many interdependent causes and sharing, with optimism, the opportunities for change. Some highlights below:
We Need Arctic Angels
Inge Relph shares the importance of community and collaboration as we tackle the loss of Polar ice.
Animals on Arctic Adventures
Global Choices Education Consultant Leticia and Arctic Angel Savanah shared their experiences with Arctic animals with an audience ranging from 8 to 89 years-old.
Intergenerational Action to Protect the Poles
Workshop at the Youth Climate Summit 2020 hosted by Global Choices Education Consultant Leticia Guzman Ingram and Arctic Angels Emma Wilkinson and Chess Fearnley.
Climate Resiliency in the Arctic
In collaboration with Youth4Nature, the Arctic Youth Network and Students on Ice, June 2020.
Learning Informally
Instigated by the Arctic Angels, we have an informal book club and discussion group to gain new perspectives and to get to know one another. We are experimenting with ideas, including occasional film showings, to engage a broader audience, to make climate change less threatening and encourage optimism. If you are an author or this interests you, get in touch.
Reads we are enjoying at the moment:
Children’s
By Women Authors
Science and Arts
“In a world where there is so much media clamouring for attention, Nature is an antidote to distractedness and an educator. Never before has it been more important that we pay attention to Nature’s lessons.” — Inge Relph, Executive Director, Global Choices
If what you’ve learned inspires you, please subscribe and stay engaged.
“The purpose of education is to pay to attention; a radical receptiveness to what is at hand, to something outside oneself.”
— Simone Weil, French Philosopher