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News & Events

Education and Climate Action

Harvard Climate Action Week Event

Building Our Resilient Future: Education Driving Hope, Innovation, and Action

Wednesday, May 10, 2023
10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Askwith Hall (Longfellow) and Gutman Library

Join us as we highlight an action-oriented agenda for the education sector — with innovation and engagement as drivers for climate resilience. In a panel conversation in Askwith Hall, we'll show how schools, leaders, and communities are making an impact in mitigating climate change, creating collaborative learning opportunities, and advancing equity. Then, in an informal and energetic afternoon session we're calling the Solutions Showcase, we'll gather in the Gutman Conference Center to explore ways to accelerate progress and to act with hope and urgency. Guests will have a chance to connect with education organizations, nonprofits, and student change-makers who are doing the work, and to trade ideas over a light buffet lunch. 

See the program of events and participants.

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What does the education sector need to do in order to respond to the challenges of climate change? Educators and leaders are already driving impact in their schools and communities — embracing evidence-based solutions, innovative practices, and an emerging consensus around education as a key lever for climate action and equity. How can we broaden that vision? Harvard Graduate School of Education students, faculty, and alumni are exploring these questions and finding solutions across a variety of dimensions.
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"Climate change is not a future problem; climate change is already happening, and it affects us all. ... Climate change is exacerbating educational inequality. It is now another important cause of the inequities that so many of us are working hard to address. So we need to take action. ... And with about 70 million students enrolled in school from pre-K through postsecondary education, one in five Americans are currently connected to the education sector, making education a critical lever for change. What we do matters.

– Dean Bridget Long
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Watch: Education and Climate Action Convening

A special convening in October 2022 with research and practice leaders from Harvard and beyond, presented by the Askwith Education Forum at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

 

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Climate Change Stories

Illustration by Tete Garcia

People shape young brains, but so does the environment

Illustration of woman watering a tree on fire

Tina Grotzer explains the challenge teachers face talking about the environment

Electric school bus on Appian Way

An Askwith Education Forum and a Solutions Showcase shine a light on education’s impact on climate change

Read more stories about HGSE's investment in educating for climate action >>

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