I’m a science educator in a red state. Climate change is included in my state’s science standards. This means, science teachers, in particular grade levels, are required to teach about it and it’s contributing factors. It’s not a taboo topic in public schools. It is being taught and taken seriously by teachers, especially science teachers. Human impact on the climate is not considered a debatable topic within the scientific community.

According to the article, 2/3 of teachers said they don’t teach it because it’s outside their subject area. So, a math teacher isn’t going to be teaching about climate change because it would take away from their time to teach the math standards that they are responsible for teaching their students. That’s the main reason most teachers aren’t teaching about it. Most students are being taught about it, at multiple points during their K-12th grade education.

Can we do more? Absolutely. Incorporating scientific texts into reading classes and incorporating climate data into math classes are excellent ways to address climate change across multiple subjects. This is happening, also.