Bryce Coon, Director, Education Initiatives, EARTHDAY.ORG

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Bryce Coon, Director, Education Initiatives, EARTHDAY.ORG

COP 29 DIARY FROM A FORMER TEACHER TURNED ADVOCATE!

Baku Stadium, the location for COP 29

Me, Bryce Coon, Day 1

Second left - colleague Karuna Singh, Regional Director, Asia, EARTHDAY.ORG, in action at Cop 29

Johnny Dabrowski, Max Falcone and myself with some of the French delegation

Efrem Bycer, Senior Lead Manager and Economic Graph, from LinkedIn & Bryce Coon (me)

Me getting a breath of air out of the stadium

then on a panel with Yunus Arikan, Director of Global Advocacy, ICLEI

Bryce, Won Jung Byun (GEP UNESCO, ) Renata Moraes (Climate Reality) & Cinderella Ndlovu, (Green Hut Trust)

Getting some steps in exploring the city

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One of the most interesting and controversial aspects of the climate crisis is the question of the individual’s role and responsibility in the battle to save the planet. What can we all do to alleviate climate change? How much will that impact my life, and is it “my” responsibility anyway when we know giant corporations are responsible for the vast majority of carbon emissions?

In the early years of “global warming,” we were all taught to calculate our carbon footprint. It turns out that this entire concept of personal accountability was dreamt up by one of the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world, British Petroleum, BP. They hired PR executives at Ogilvy & Mather to promote the concept that climate change is our fault, not theirs.  BP even kindly created a “carbon footprint calculator” in 2004 to calculate how we, as individuals, were destroying the planet, and it worked. For those who took responsibility, it led to a personal quest to lower our footprint. For those who didn’t care, it provided a way to point a finger, blame others, and avoid serious conversations about solutions. 

While the goal of taking action to mitigate climate change at a personal level scheme was developed by big oil corporations and entirely designed to shift the blame from “them” to “us,” there actually is still a lot that we can do to make a difference. 

But making us all count carbon is not the solution; yes, recycling is good, and saying no to flying private jets — not something I have ever had to do — is positively advantageous for the planet – there’s another and far better way to drive collective action. There is one very special community that can meet climate change head-on, and it’s one of the strongest communities in the world: classrooms. 

Last Earth Day, a large school district invited me to present on climate education at an event for middle and high school students. As a former teacher, I was excited to be back in a classroom talking with young people about something I care about. We discussed the history of Earth Day and the power of collective action. We looked at current trends and possible solutions to the climate crisis. I encouraged young people to think about how they may become part of the solution today as students and tomorrow as a net generation of leaders. 

As soon as I ended my presentation on the critical need for climate education in all schools, K – 12, a savvy student shot their hand up and asked me, “Okay, but why should we make room for climate education when there are so many other pressing issues we have to deal with every single day?” It was on point and made me realize how much I miss the directness of student questions. 

It was a fair question, so I asked the students what some of these other issues were. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, they produced a laundry list of crises that all needed to be addressed. Economic issues, like poverty and the national debt; social issues, like equality for all groups under the law and the pursuit of peace; and conflicts rage around the world. 

Although I didn’t want to minimize the importance of any of these critical issues, I did ask them what all of those issues have in common, and with the exception of space trash, and yes, one student did mention space trash, it is that they all occur on this planet. Planet Earth. That became the starting point for another, and I have to be honest, more open and engaging conversation than what I had planned for. 

This experience helped me when it was time to write the EARTHDAY.ORG report, Climate Education vs. The Climate Crisis,  because it reminded me that taking responsibility and driving collective action is not about shaming individuals or alleviating corporate responsibility. It is about giving the next generation, our students, the tools they need to cope with the mess we have effectively dumped on them. 

If students know what is happening to the world, they can better cope with this reality and counter the tide of misinformation that will undoubtedly flow their way. 

We know all of this impacts students — there is a lot of research showing climate anxiety is real and that climate education is the best medicine for it. Secondly, preparing our students for a future in which nearly everyone will have to be climate-literate is not just what environmentalists want; it is what, increasingly, businesses are calling for to prepare young people for the green economy. This is supported by the report Choosing Our Future: Education for Climate Action by the World Bank, which outlines the research and data to support these claims, including the astonishing statistic that “80 percent of global business leaders believe that green skills will be the most important driver of the green transition.”

The other thing teaching climate education can do effectively, even without trying to, is promote a sense of responsible, planet-friendly behavior in students ages four to eighteen. It builds a Green Muscle Memory that means every decision these students make from now on will have a built-in sense of right and wrong for the planet. 

The difference is that, unlike BP’s cynical Carbon Footprint, it is not about blame or even about being virtuous. It is about knowing the facts and choosing to make the best choices for your own future; it’s not faux altruism or even guilt; it is about adopting a common sense attitude to the world we live in and acting accordingly because it is the right thing to do. 

Since writing our first report, we’ve created a free practical School Guide to Teaching Climate Change, packed with information on how best to teach this subject effectively because climate education in every classroom worldwide is our goal and critical for our planet. 

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In a significant stride towards advancing climate education, India’s Ministry of Education recently announced a groundbreaking partnership with UNICEF under their ‘Green Capacities Initiative’. This initiative aims to equip teachers with expertise in climate education, empowering them to instill critical knowledge in their schools. This collaborative effort marks the initial stride in providing children with the essential tools to tackle climate change and foster a more sustainable future, fostering the development of an innate “green muscle memory”. 

Reflecting on this, I witnessed my friend’s son tackle a major milestone just last week – the moment the training wheels came off his bike. Initially, he grappled with balancing, pedaling, and steering simultaneously, resulting in more than a few tumbles. However, he persevered. Days later, I was astonished to find him effortlessly maneuvering his bike, having already transformed the process into sheer muscle memory. It was a testament to how swiftly organic learning can occur; through repetition and practice, riding a bike had become second nature to him. 

Days later, I stopped by and there he was, riding around like a professional without any difficulties and little thought — riding a bike had already become pure muscle memory for him. I was amazed at how quickly this organic learning occurred. Repetition and practice had made riding a bike second nature to him. 

This experience made me realize the incredible capacity of the human brain to learn quickly, and for that learning to remain ingrained in us for decades. With this power in mind, I considered how developing “Green Muscle Memory” could help us combat the climate crisis. 

Every day, we all take actions either contributing to or combating the climate crisis. We might grab a single-use plastic cup from a coffee shop or decide to take public transit over driving our car. We make the effort to recycle, or to turn the air conditioning off to conserve energy. Yet, most of us are not consistent; we don’t automatically have a saving-the-planet default position we gravitate towards.

But what if we did? What if we could train the next generation to always make the right choice? To grow, flex, and exercise a truly green muscle memory that makes doing the right thing for the planet our norm? So our everyday behaviors become so ingrained in our lives we are able to perform them thoughtlessly, just like riding a bike. 

What is Green Muscle Memory? 

Green Muscle Memory is the term for when behaviors that move us towards net-zero carbon occur with little or no conscious effort. We know that individuals are not responsible for, nor will single-handedly solve, the climate crisis. However, these actions add up over time and have network effects that influence our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. 

Additionally, individuals who make design and programming decisions can be influenced by their green muscle memory. For example, architects can design greener buildings, city planners can make biking more accessible and safer, and landlords can install energy efficient appliances. If we use climate education to develop green muscle memory in children today, these green behaviors will work their way into all industries in the future. 

How do we develop Green Muscle Memory? 

The key to developing any muscle memory is learning and repetition: learning slowly to forget slowly. That is why, to develop green muscle memory, climate education needs to be taught consistently to children across all subjects, from kindergarten to graduation. Currently, U.S. students only spend two hours per school year learning about the climate crisis. It is critical for our children to learn the causes of climate change so they can develop the instinctive behaviors needed to mitigate and avoid more climate disasters.  

The data supports the connection between climate education and decreases in carbon emissions. If 16% of secondary school students around the world in middle and high income countries studied climate change, it would result in cutting almost 19 gigatons of CO2 by 2050. The equivalent to removing the emissions that power nearly 80 million homes. While these metrics do need further analysis, it is clear climate education in our schools will have a direct impact on carbon emissions across the planet and initiate real change.  

At first glance, it may be difficult to connect these individual climate lessons to a meaningful decrease in CO2 emissions but learning leads to real awareness and measurable behavioral changes. For example, following Greta Thunberg’s protests that raised awareness around climate change, 30% of Swiss residents surveyed said they had made changes to their transportation, buying and recycling habits. In one country alone, that is millions of individuals making daily decisions to combat the climate crisis, or at least not add to it.

Why We Can’t Wait

Most of us have a lot of unlearning to do. We have grown accustomed to receiving single-use plastic bags, plastic utensils and straws without asking, underutilizing public transport, or contributing to the staggering amount of daily food waste. We didn’t develop these behaviors because we actively wanted to contribute to climate change; we fell victim to choosing convenience which led to bad habits harming our planet.

Luckily, we do know how we can change and prepare the next generation to fight to solve the climate crisis. Climate education is key to developing green muscle memory. And green muscle memory is critical if we want to solve the climate crisis.  

If our goal is to be net zero by 2050, we need formally integrated climate education today. And, if we do this, every child who is just learning to ride his or her bike right now will have developed green muscle memory to combat the climate crisis and make a green, livable future for generations to come.

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