Abstract:

This paper aims to shed light on the role played by well-tailored educational strategies in improving youth’s climate change engagement and promoting evidence-informed civic actions in the field. By building on successful examples and lessons learned, this paper proposes a full-ledged design of educational strategies targeted at improving the students’ knowledge and awareness on climate change.

Amidst an overwhelming scientific consensus on human-caused global warming, and a vanishingly small presence of climate denial in the scientific literatures, climate change scepticism is looming. Every falsehood, distortion, and conspiracy theory about climate change is an obstacle to meaningful climate action—which is a collective effort that requires our agreement on a set of basic facts. Misinformation that circulates on various online platforms demonstrably alters people’s knowledge and acceptance of the climate change. Research shows that climate change scepticism is contributing to everything from political inaction and polarization of public attitudes to the larger-scale rejection of mitigation policies (Lewandowsky, 2021; van der Linden et. Al, 2017; Hornsey & Lewandowsky, 2022; Hobson & Niemeyer, 2013). A concerted set of actions is needed to tackle this worrying phenomena. Appropriate educational strategies can foster science awareness, thus having long-term effects on mitigating climate change denial, and building trust in science.

The paper addresses the topic from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The aim of the study is three-fold. First, it sheds light on the drivers of climate change denialism, with a focus on poor science literacy. Second, it analyses the educational strategies that could be employed to boost climate change literacy, while helping students acknowledge the real effects of human action on the environment. Third, it will propose a full-fledged design of educational policies needed to counteract climate change scepticism. The paper will employ a qualitative methodology, relying on desk-based research of strategic documentation, projects, and case studies from Member-States with relevant and positive experiences in this area, such as Finland and Sweden.

The benefits of climate-centred educational interventions are high due to the urgent, yet public character of the actions needed to mitigate or partially reverse the effects of climate change, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Environmentally friendly policies and strategies rely upon adequate and timely educational strategies to develop youth critical scepticism and enhance societal resilience in the post-factual era.

Keywords:

Climate change scepticism, educational strategy, climate-centred education.