Minority Serving Institutions as Engines for Improving Education on Climate Change

The disciplines of climate sciences, atmospheric science or meteorology are often not integrated in the geoscience curricula or offerred as professional training programs at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) across the nation. This severely limits the awarness and participation of minorities in the discussion on the staggering impact of global climate change. It is proposed that increased awareness and informed decision making on climate change at MSIs may be achieved through the design and implementation of introductory courses in climate science with clear objectives of enhancing initiatives, perspectives, sustained conceptual understanding through active climate literacy. The variability and threat of weather on societies and their economies make it necssary to market the relevance of climate science through inquiry-based learning to students across all disciplines at MSIs. MSIs may serve as change agents to lead the effort in advancing sustainable living through education for sustainability, campus resilience, and retention.