Awareness

Citizen science (CS) programs contribute scientific data and information that help policymakers make more informed decisions. There have been several studies that evaluated CS programs and demonstrated their role and value in policymaking. However, there is not as much information on how these programs influence pro-environmental behavior (PEB) and attitudes in participants. The researchers in this study reviewed a CS program in Australia called Scientist for a Day (S4AD). This one-day CS event sponsored by Earthwatch gathers citizens to learn more about a specific research project.

Though science education and environmental education (EE) have been considered as separate disciplines, their missions and teaching methods are complementary. Therefore, there is an opportunity to integrate the two disciplines in light of the recent educational shifts in the United States to prioritizing systems-thinking and adaptability in K-12 settings based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). For example, the foundation of science education has moved from learning about science principles to solving problems and making decisions based on science.

Climate change is a social and environmental issue impacting many communities around the world. Understanding ways to mitigate and adapt to these impacts of climate change are important for the continued strength of local communities. In particular, younger generations can be crucial in spreading the lessons learned from climate change education with their use of social media and their increased motivation to act.

Changing an adult's mind about climate change is difficult. Studies have found that adults' political ideologies strongly influence their views on climate change – and that individuals tend to seek out information that fits their preconceptions. The complexity of climate change science and the availability of misinformation have added challenges to the process of building a strong collective response.

Climate change has been highly politicized in the United States, and it is frequently taught as a controversial and disputed subject in schools. Science teachers have political beliefs that may influence the way they teach climate change, and many lack knowledge about the scientific consensus about the complex web of causes behind climate change.

Climate change is a complex topic to teach, and challenges arise in inspiring pro-environmental behaviors in students based on the content teachers provide. For example, climate change causes and effects are hard to understand when elements like greenhouse gases are invisible to the human eye. Further, the impacted areas of climate change receiving the most attention for scientific research typically lie far from the average person, like the Arctic or a coral reef, and thus are not relevant enough to cause motivation to act.

One pillar of environmental education's mission is to shape the pro-environmental values and behaviors of learners. Though many researchers have measured the outcomes of environmental education, the way values are communicated by an educator or teaching facility has not been explored in-depth. Value-belief-norm theory (VBN) states that an individual develops a value, has their beliefs affirmed from an external experience, and then actively demonstrates pro-environmental behaviors based on those values and beliefs.

Climate change is rapidly progressing and must be addressed immediately. To do so, educators must come up with unique and creative ways to communicate the impacts climate change has on society. One suggestion for increasing engagement is using film as a means of encouraging people to act against the ongoing threats to the climate. Previous studies have shown film to be conducive to changing perspectives and ideas about environmental topics in general, but not as much research has been published about the impact of climate change films in particular.

In general, humans tend to place themselves on a higher pedestal than animals and other living organisms. Because of this anthropocentric view, humans justify certain animal exploitative practices for their benefit, which has contributed to the ongoing environmental crisis. To better combat this crisis, it is crucial that focus is given to a new ethical framework grounded in environmental principles in which the responsibilities humans have to themselves, their success, and the abundance of wildlife is center.

In order to successfully combat the ever-increasing challenges of climate change and to lessen the overall impacts, it is of the utmost importance for humans to shift toward environmentally-friendly behaviors. Environmental education (EE) has been proven to positively effect pro-environmental behaviors (PEB). Based on the role climate change has on the overall health of the environment, pro-climate behavior (PCB) is a subset of PEB. PCBs are individual actions that can support reducing energy and carbon emissions and other negative impacts of climate change.