• The world is halfway through the time allocated for achieving the SDGs and the UN reports [that] countries have gone backwards on most of them. Bendell.
• Our world is suffering from the impact of unprecedented emergencies caused by the climate crisis, pollution, desertification and biodiversity loss. UN Secr-General, Guterres.
• Multiple climate tipping points could be triggered if global temperature rises beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. This will be disastrous for people across the world. futureearth.org, McKay, Rockström.
System-wide C&O education, with a good dose of geoethics, is a crucial key to reducing the impending tragedy. Thus C&O educators carry a great geoethical responsibility for the health of the Earth and the life that it carries, including humans. This also is a well-supported idea:
• Climate literacy is the key to a greener future. Conner.
• Understanding human behavior and the social drivers of climate change are essential for the public to fully appreciate the climate system. Shwom et al.
• Improved science and climate literacy are needed for planetary citizens to better understand the implications of global change. Harrington.
• Creating a climate-literate population is key to driving green jobs – and ambitious climate action. earthday.org
• It is about empowering people with tools, to better use that ocean knowledge to become more responsible and able to take decisions that involve ocean resources. Santoro, 2022.
The state of the climate and the related urgent need for climate education are captured in this quote:
• Since the IPCC (2018) 1.5°C Report, the global climate emergency has become widely acknowledged. With all adverse climate change indicators at record highs and global emissions still increasing, political will needs to be driven, hard and fast, making climate change literacy a survival imperative for civilization. Carter.
The above can be applied, mutatis mutandis, to related threats, such as biodiversity, pollution, food security and fossil-fuel-driven war. We welcome presentations from all cultures on a broad range of topics, from hands-on pedagogical methods and practices, through geo-communication, curriculum matters, outreach and research, to policy and its implementation.
Please note these other, related EGU sessions: (NB: Not included here are all the sessions in related programme groups, such as: AS, CL, CR, NH, OS, SSS).
GDB2: As climate change impacts accelerate, are we sleepwalking into the inferno…?
- Mon, 24 Apr, 16:15-18:00, rm E1.
- https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/session/47436
EOS1.1: Science and Society: Science Communication Practice, Research, and Reflection
- Tues 25 Apr, starting 08h30, rm N1.
- https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/session/44933
TM14: Climate change communication: What policy, education, research, geoethics and action are realistic?
- Tues, 25 Apr, 19:00-20:00, rm 1.14.
- https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/session/47690
EOS4.1: Geoethics: Geoscience Implications for Professional Communities, Society, and Environment
- Thurs, 27 Apr, 08:30-15:45, rm 0.14.
- https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU23/session/44934
Please also note that you are invited to submit an article to a special issue of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) journal 'Geoscience Communication' on the theme of climate and ocean education (literacy). The central goal and scope for this special issue is to show how climate and ocean education may effectively communicate with and raise awareness in everyone, from ordinary citizens, through educators to high-level decision makers. Please check out the call for papers and find more information on submitting in the CfP: https://oceansclimate.wixsite.com/oceansclimate/gc-special. Please help to disseminate this special issue, eg, by posting on your various media.
