Teaching global climate change

Abstract

Although there is strong consensus among scientists that global climate change is real and dangerous, and there is increasing belief of this among the general public, there still remains a significant gap between scientific opinion and that of the public. The academic environmental community, therefore, has a clear opportunity and responsibility to teach the facts of global climate change, particularly to non-environmental majors, those people who are the voters of the future. The article presents several ideas along these lines, and calls for a revitalized effort to teach climate change to undergraduate students.