Climate change ignorance: an unacceptable legacy

Abstract

Climate change effects will be most acutely felt by future generations. Recent prior research has shown that school students' knowledge of climate change science is very limited in rural Australia. The purpose of this study was to assess the capacity of preservice teachers and parents to transmit climate change information and understanding to school students in a rural tropical part of Australia using Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory as a guiding theoretical framework. Samples consisted of parents of school-age children in northern Queensland (n = 267) and first year pre-service teachers (n = 199) attending a local university serving the same geographic region of Australia. Survey results gathered in the aftermath of cyclone Yasi highlighted gaps in pre-service teachers' knowledge of climate change science and parental concerns about climate change impacts and a mistrust of climate change communication. Findings suggested that home and school influences upon school aged students were unlikely to support students' understanding of climate change or to be able to empower them to adapt to and mitigate climate change impacts. Implications of these findings, which are potentially applicable to other rural and remote parts of the world, are discussed within the context of teacher training and climate science communication.

The cognition of the spatial art forms of tourist villages based on ecological engineering and sustainable development

“…Especially in the late 1980s, when sustainable development was introduced into the concept of management and development, an inseparable relationship between "tourism" and "sustainable development" was established. The unanimous recognition of "sustainable development" in academia has gradually become a lifelong research topic in the tourism industry [18].…”

Green Leadership as an Emerging Style for Addressing Climate Change Issues in Schools

“…Both approaches can be facilitated at bilateral level in order to share and create a strong inter-national framework for climate action. However, Boon's (2014) warning is quite timely that responsibility for climate change adaptation and mitigation is not only the responsibility of the governments but all individuals.…”

“…According to a UNESCO Report 2,500 primary school teachers and 1,000 primary school principals have been trained in climate change education in Albania while 7,000 teachers have been trained in the Republic of Korea (Buckler and Creech, 2014). Supporting this view, Boon (2014) argues that since children spend most of their time in their homes and schools, climate change needs to be well covered in schools as well as at homes.…”

“…As such, principals should be given in-service training in ways they could adopt green initiatives in their schools. In essence, a holistic perspective needs to be adopted and interventions need to be applied in way of in-service training so that influences are more likely to filter through to other teachers and children via their microsystem connections (Boon, 2014). Accordingly, principals, teachers and the students can all become green leaders and become the ambassadors of climate change initiatives in their villagers and communities at large.…”

Comunicación del cambio climático y generación de capacidades adaptativas entre los agricultores del trópico subhúmedo

“…Este planteamiento visto desde las localidades ubicadas en el trópico subhúmedo mexicano significa lograr la comprensión de este fenómeno por parte de los agricultores, de sus impactos en su quehacer agrícola en las próximas décadas y de ese modo tomar decisiones al respecto desde sus recursos disponibles (Boon, 2014). Al respecto, argumenta que la comunicación como comprensión permite que se generen condiciones de posibilidad que conduzcan a procesos reflexivos que permitan pasar a la acción.…”