This editorial is written by our director, Dr. Emily Connally with support from our writer Michael Hines.

Climate change is set to be the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced. The greenhouse gases building in our atmosphere are quite dangerous. We are on track to increase average temperatures around the globe by 3 degrees Celsius. That would severely disrupt food production and the entire economy and cause mass migrations of climate refugees. Many more people would die each year in extreme weather events. Meanwhile, we are already on the verge of a mass extinction of plant and animal life globally that could wipe out more than 30% of all living species.

We still have time to prevent this worst-case scenario, but we need to change our behaviour now. We need to cut greenhouse emissions – dramatically. In our work, we’ve learned that people want to fight climate change but don’t know where to start. 

Not being empowered with that knowledge creates a climate literacy gap. Unfortunately, today, climate literacy is a privilege for the few. 

What we need is climate literacy for all.

What Is Climate Literacy?

Climate literacy is understanding what causes climate change and how to fix it. It extends to learning:

  • Which human activities create greenhouse gases,
  • How greenhouse gases cause climate change,
  • What the short and long-term effects of climate change will be unless we change course,
  • Who will be hit hardest in the future and who is already suffering today,
  • What we all can do differently to stop climate change, and 
  • How we can protect ourselves against what is coming.

Here’s a quick example of understanding a specific activity that creates greenhouse gases: Our love of red meat.

  • Cows (and sheep and deer) burp methane when they eat, but hogs and chickens do not. 
  • Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas – worse than carbon dioxide. 
  • When methane enters the atmosphere, it helps trap heat. 
  • Methane traps 28 times more heat than carbon dioxide over 100 years 
  • The more cows (and sheep and deer) we raise for food, the more methane we produce.

So, what can we do differently?

  • Scientists work on innovations, including seaweed to help reduce cow burps .
  • It helps to eat chicken or pork instead of beef or lamb. 
  • It helps to choose culled venison (especially from invasive deer), rather than farmed deer.
  • It helps to consume less cow milk and eat less cheese.

Thinking about climate change when you decide what you eat is called a climatarian approach. Changing our food habits toward a climatarian diet is a big step because food production accounts for 1/3 of greenhouse gas emissions.

To take this knowledge one step further, climate change also disrupts global food production. Extreme weather like droughts and floods destroys crops. Damage to supply then causes inflation of food prices at the shops. The impact of this damage will only become more dramatic over time. 

 In summary, what we eat can change the climate, which in turn can change the weather, which in turn determines what is available to eat and how much it costs us to feed ourselves. 

Climate Literacy Has Gatekeepers

The links between cows and methane, climate and weather, and the long-term effect on food supply are just one tiny piece of the climate literacy picture. What we all need is to understand the big picture. That knowledge will help us make more sustainable decisions in our daily lives.  Climate literacy covers a range of behaviors, including transport, electricity use, buying appliances, shopping for clothes, food preparation, and even voting. 

Unfortunately, climate literacy is somewhat of a privilege today. It is taught at our best schools or in some Uni programmes. Adults can be trained to become “Carbon Literate” from organisations like the Carbon Literacy Trust. Those programmes tend to have a financial cost, often in the hundreds of pounds. After that, you must also pay an additional fee to receive a certification from the Trust, even after you have completed the course. 

The science behind climate change is well established. In fact, scientists spend their entire careers trying to prove one another wrong. It is the job of a scientist to be sceptical and test theories. Climate change is the only thing in history that 99% of the world’s scientists agree on. Why are we hiding this truth behind a paywall?

We know climate literacy is essential. It’s now common in lessons provided to children, just like education about nutrition. If we wait until those children are in control, it will be too late. Adults need this training, too.

For example, people argue that how the countryside “looks” is more important than an immediate move to decarbonisation. Decarbonisation includes increasing green energy, decreasing fossil energy, changing how we eat, and changing what and how we buy new stuff. We need to make all of these changes NOW, or there will be no countryside left to argue about. 

We must open the gates to climate literacy. 

Climate Literacy Should Be Free

If climate change is the biggest issue facing humanity, then society must consider climate literacy as essential as learning to read. Courses should be ingrained in all public education, made widely available to adults, and paid for with our tax dollars. Climate literacy is critical to the survival of humans and life on Earth as we know it. 

The UN has already established a model for this. Its UN Climate Change e-learn programme offers a variety of free online courses on various components of climate change. The UK government could create an accredited program like this and make it available to everyone, with free certification. Individual U.S. states (education in the U.S. is controlled at the state level) could do the same. These two nations in particular are considered the most important puzzle pieces in fighting climate change, besides the role of China. 

Right now, climate literacy is being used for “greenwashing.” A company can pay for employee training in climate literacy and get certifications to make the company look good. However, this does not mean the company or employees have changed their behaviours to become more sustainable. The company just reports that its employees are trained. 

Climate literacy programs should not be for corporate gain (the prominent cause of climate change) but should instead be about empowering one another to protect ourselves from climate disasters. 

Cherwell Collective’s Climate Resources Are Always Free

Cherwell Collective is trying to do its small part to improve climate literacy.  We share our knowledge and skills to help people understand the climatarian diet and the circular economy. We use Carbon Cost at our cafe to help people understand climate choices in food decisions. Our Carbon Cost of fashion exhibit (see tour dates below) teaches the most important choices we can make to avoid the worst types of clothing and accessories. WISH offers courses to help you learn new skills in waste reduction. 

We know better than most how much time, thought, and skill teaching requires.  We believe teachers deserve to be paid well. That’s why we pay our team to create tools to spread climate literacy worldwide. 

One of our goals for the next year is to have our climate literacy resources accredited so that participating individuals can have the same opportunities as people who pay other organisations for the same knowledge. 

Moreover, we feel that every community should have a “carbon expert” sitting in and available for any questions. One of our staff is on-site at Waste Innovation Station, Kidlington, OX5 1EE for Tuesdays – Saturdays 10 am – 2pm and Fridays until 6 pm. No question or action is too small if we do this together. 

Cherwell Collective’s Carbon Cost of Fashion Exhibit will be on tour at several locations in Oxfordshire this autumn: 

  • St. Mary’s Church, Church Green, Witney, OX28 4AW
    • Friday 25th October – Wednesday 6th November
    • 8:30 am – 6:00 pm 
  • St Anne’s College, 56 Woodstock Rd, OX2 6HS
    • Porters Lodge, Library, and MOLT
    • Monday November 11th – Saturday November 23rd 
  • Over Norton Village Hall, Choicehill Road, OX7 5PP 
    • Transition Chipping Norton
    • Friday 29th November 5pm – 8pm