Why I resigned from my tenured position teaching climate science in college
I've taught students about the climate crisis for years. But they aren't the ones who need to act now
By Heather Short · for CBC First Person · Posted: Sep 24, 2021 4:00 AM ET
.. I arrived at this conclusion after many months of reflection, informed by teaching thousands of students about what the best available science predicts for their futures. Climate science consensus tells us that the world must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent of 2010 levels by the year 2030 in order to have a 66 per cent chance of avoiding a cascade of extreme climate events that will be unstoppable within their lifetimes.
… We (privileged people in wealthy countries) have a very short window of opportunity to take decisive, systemic action to avert the worst consequences of climate breakdown. Not only do our current emissions targets put us far behind where we need to be, our province's 50-year-old education system lacks the support our students need to face this reality.
Teaching this to an 18 year old is like telling them that they have cancer, then ushering them out the door, saying "sorry, good luck with that."
It is also fundamentally unfair and unjust for us — part of the generations that have benefitted from unmitigated resource extraction and emissions — to drop the responsibility to fix (or adapt to) the climate crisis in their young laps.
They deserve a livable future, and they deserve our apology, immediate action and emotional support to navigate an uncertain future. Honesty, transparency and open dialogue about these climate and ecological crises must form the core of our education.
More here
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/first-person-climate-change-education-support-young-people-1.6186611
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