By Vera Kim
As the climate crisis continues to escalate, with global temperatures rising and natural disasters becoming more common, many parents question how to educate their children on environmental issues and how they can best advocate for their children’s futures. Often, parents feel overwhelmed and do not know where to start.
In an interview with Ecosystemic in Nov. 2021, Harvard Professor Dan Schrag discussed the organization Vote Like A Madre. During the 2020 presidential election, Vote Like A Madre encouraged Latina women across the country to vote for presidential candidates with strong climate action plans. Schrag stated that, in Arizona, 35,000 more Latina women voted in the 2020 election than in past presidential elections, partially due to Vote Like A Madre’s efforts. Just by voting, parents are taking a crucial step toward a safer future for them and their children.
In terms of education, many children and teenagers receive the majority of their knowledge on climate change from school rather than from discussions with parents. For a student in Vietnam, whose family profits from mass production of corporate commodities, climate change is not a major concern. Meanwhile, a student in Hong Kong, a city that has seen a recent increase in natural disasters, feels passionate about combating the climate crisis. While both situations are drastically different, the two students agree that most of their knowledge on climate change comes from school.
On the other hand, one interviewed student living in the United States reported that, in addition to learning about climate change in school, she and her parents often have discussions related to the ongoing environmental crisis. She added that these discussions have been crucial in making her more aware of the impacts of the climate crisis.
In order to gather more information from the perspective of parents, an informal survey about parenting during the time of the climate crisis was conducted at George School in Newtown, PA. A Chinese teacher at the school stated that, even though her son is still a young child, she finds it important to teach him about nature and how to appreciate the environment. When her son grows older, she hopes to teach him that the climate crisis is a “major threat we are facing right now” as well as “how… to protect the environment in daily life.”
By electing politicians who prioritize climate action and educating the next generation on the drastic effects of climate change, parents can promote a better future for both the Earth and their children.
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