A Climate Literacy Guide for Understanding and Addressing Climate Change

Climate change affects all communities in every region and every sector of our economy. Addressing climate change requires a whole-of-society response undertaken by a climate literate society. Studies show that improving climate literacy can accelerate behavioral changes and climate-related planning, and a climate-literate society is better able to develop and implement effective climate solutions that benefit all.

The U.S. Global Change Research Program created the Climate Literacy Guide in 2008 and updated it in 2009 to activate the education and communication sectors on climate science literacy. The guide has been used to create school curricula, museum exhibits, educational standards, and communication approaches in the U.S. and internationally. However, since the guide was released in 2009, the fields of climate science, education, and communication have advanced and public discourse has changed as climate impacts become more and more apparent - making clear climate science literacy is necessary but not sufficient in order to effectively understand and address climate change. In recognition of this and through an extensive public engagement campaign, USGCRP updated and expanded the Climate Literacy Guide for 2024, including specific focuses on decision making, justice, hope, communication, and the role of Indigenous and local knowledges in climate literacy. Additional information about the causes and effects of climate change, potential solutions, and skills and abilities that are needed to address the climate crisis - factors that can increase personal engagement and agency on the topic - are included.

This session will dive into the specifics of the updated Climate Literacy Guide and new ways of working with and sharing the material as a climate education community. The authors of the guide are excited to hear feedback from the community about how they plan to use the guide as well.