Engaging People in Civil Deliberations about Climate Change: NAAEE's New Environmental Issues Forum Resources

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Engaging People in Civil Deliberations about Climate Change: NAAEE's New Environmental Issues Forum Resources

Climate change is an environmental problem, but it is also a public-health issue, a threat to national security, and an economic challenge of considerable magnitude. Now, the public debate is shifting away from weighing the evidence to asking what we should do about our changing climate and the effects that are beginning to be felt. This presentation introduces NAAEE's Environmental Issues Forum (EIF) process, developed with the Kettering Foundation, and the newly published issue guide “Climate Choices: How Do We Meet the Challenge of a Warming Planet?” This issue guide is designed to promote meaningful, productive discussions, convened locally in face-to-face forums or online so that members of a class or a community can decide what steps they think are most needed/want to take. EIF provides tools, training, and support for engaging adults and students in deliberation about sticky issues that affect the environment and communities. (The new “Climate Choices” materials are downloadable for free this year only.)