Adult Climate Change Education Advances Learning, Self-Efficacy, and Agency for Community-Scale Stewardship

Sarah-Mae Nelson,Adina M Merenlender,Greg Ira

doi:10.3390/su14031804

Abstract

Education per se does not necessarily foster positive environmental behaviors; rather, a complex assemblage of influences including social integration, discovering shared values, strengthening environmental identity, self-efficacy, and agency is needed to foster environmental stewardship. We examine the participant outcomes from a new adult climate education and service course, which is delivered by local organizations. The UC Climate Stewards certification course includes relationship building, social-emotional learning, climate science, climate communication, monitoring resilience, and how to take community-scale action. Based on results from ~154 participants, we observed significant improvement in self-efficacy, with confidence to help protect communities increasing from x¯ = 3.59 (3 is neutral) to x¯ 4.32 (4 is agree) (p < 0.00). The importance of doing something or taking action about climate change appears to be a value that was strongly held prior to taking the course and aligns with motivations for becoming a certified Climate Steward; hence, it only slightly increased from (x¯ = 4.25) to (x¯ = 4.57) (p < 0.00). Climate Stewards’ feeling of competency in talking about the subject increased (from x¯ 3.05 before to x¯ = 4.24 after, p < 0.00, N = 111). Finally, we examine the community-scale stewardship taken by the Climate Steward volunteers, from information provided through self-reporting, and explore additional approaches to researching pathways from education to agency.

Highlights

Received: 16 December 2021While global warming had been on the radar of scientists for over 100 years, it arguably rose to worldwide public attention in 1988, with James Hansen’s testimony to the United States’ Congress [1]
It was following this attention that various convenings were brought to bear on the topic, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change presented at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit
Our results indicate that after completing the UC Climate Stewards course, participants report increased conviction about the importance of climate stewardship, increased confidence in their ability to address climate change, and increased ability to communicate about climate change as well as to apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes gained in the course in support of community-oriented service

Summary

Introduction

While global warming had been on the radar of scientists for over 100 years, it arguably rose to worldwide public attention in 1988, with James Hansen’s testimony to the United States’ Congress [1] It was following this attention that various convenings were brought to bear on the topic, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change presented at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. The response was neither swift nor far-reaching, and the initial call to bolster climate education was taken up by only a small number of informal education organizations It has only been in the last two years that a handful of national climate education plans have been written (e.g., Kenya, Italy, New Zealand) or, at least, initiated (e.g., Argentina, Mexico). Come as no surprise that most adults in the United States did not receive climate change education as part of their formal schooling

Methods

Results

Conclusion