CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION AND ‘THE ANXIOUS GENERATION':THE IMPORTANCE OF OUTDOOR AND EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

In ‘The Anxious Generation,’ social psychologist Jonathan Haidt makes the compelling argument that rising rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide among adolescents is rooted in the transformation from a ‘play-based’ childhood to a ‘phone-based childhood.’ This ‘great rewiring of childhood’ is taking place at a time when the consequences of anthropogenic climate change and the need for climate action is greater than ever; but how do we teach about a subject that is inherently anxiety-invoking to a generation that is already pre-wired to be anxious? International surveys (n>10,000) from Lancet Planetary Health indicate that for people between the ages of 16 and 25, 60% described themselves as very worried about the climate and nearly half said the anxiety affects their daily functioning. However, dismissing, denying or not talking about climate change exacerbates climate distress, and studies suggest talking about climate change, climate education, and collective action on climate solutions can help ameliorate climate anxiety. Here, we provide another path-forward to addressing both education in the era of the ‘anxious generation’ and in the era of climate change: increased outdoor and experiential learning. Here, we posit that outdoor and experiential learning at the k-12 level and beyond 1) promotes with authentic connections to each other and to the planet, 2) provides learners and educators with experiences that reduce anxiety and provide D.O.S.E (Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins) and 3) puts learners and educators in discover mode vs. defend mode.

We ground these preliminary observations with experiences from 1) multiple k-12 outdoor climate outreach events (including Greenhouse Gas Tag, wildfire education, and ‘OLOGY’ day), 2) the results of a master’s thesis (Marquette, 2023) on 4^th grade wildfire and climate education and 3) pre and post field trip surveys from geoscience students at the University level. Surveys indicate that K-12 educators do not teach wildfire or climate change for a variety of reasons including lack of confidence, background knowledge, awareness of resources, and understanding of how it relates to grade level standards and subjects.