Our Policy Agenda

Establish a new White House Office of Climate Literacy and Career Development with a strong authorization and an equally strong commitment to climate and social justice. 

• Establish an office of climate and sustainability education within the Department of Education to coordinate climate education and literacy programs throughout the Department and for coordination with state departments of education. 
• Increase the emphasis on equitable, and just climate literacy in the Every Student Succeeds Act (also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) in keeping with support for Title 1 schools and STEM education, civics education, and after-school programming, among others under Title 4. 
• Make climate change a specific and better-funded focus of the Education Department’s Teachers for a Competitive Tomorrow Program under the COMPETES Act to support career development skills for all students, including students from power income, front line communities. 
• Increase public support for the Advanced Placement Environmental Science (APES) program, expand the program to more high schools, and incentivize giving it more of a climate emphasis. 
• Expand the funding and programs of the NOAA Office of Education and support a range of agency programs in equitable teaching of climate change science and solutions. 
• Expand the Earth Science education programs of NASA and focus them more effectively on climate change. 
• Increase funding and program support for climate education by the EPA Office of Environmental Education and the EPA Environmental Justice Program. 
• Reinstitute and fund the Climate Change Education (CCE) program of the National Science Foundation under the auspices of the COMPETES Act. 
• Build the capacity of museums, libraries, aquariums, and zoos via the National Institute of Museums and Library Sciences, the Endowments of Arts and Humanities, and other informal educational venues to educate children, educators, and the general public on climate change. 
• Incorporate climate education into the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Education schools. 

• Pass the Rebuild America’s Schools Act with provisions to support green schools as part of national infrastructure legislation and refurbish schools in lower-income, front-line communities across the U.S.  
• Introduce and pass the No Child Left Inside Act to increase support within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for environmental and climate education. 
• Expand the goals of the Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools Program to ensure a connection between green school facility improvements and their becoming tools for climate literacy and education. 

• Increase f​​​​unding and add legislative intent to the Carl H. Perkins Act for Career and Technical Education (CTE) to more effectively address equitable and just climate change education, sustainability education, and job and career development. 
• Establish and fund a new Civilian Conservation and Climate Corps to address youth unemployment for lower-income, underemployed youth. 
• Infuse climate change education and skill development into the youth education and training programs of the Department of Labor such as Job Corps, apprenticeships, Youth-Build, and others to help build pathways out of poverty for lower-income youth in front-line communities. 
• I​​​​​​nfuse climate change principles and education into the educational programs of the Department of Agriculture, including at the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, Conservation Education at the Forest Service, and educational programs for the Natural Resource Conservation Service. 
• Expand funding and support for the equitable and just education programs of the Department of Energy on energy conservation and alternative energy scenarios. 
• Increase funding for the professional educational programs of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences to help health care professionals better address the health impacts of climate change, particularly in lower-income and front-line communities of color. 
• Infuse more funding and climate change content into the Higher Education Act (via the University Sustainability Program) and the COMPETES Act to support colleges, universities, and community colleges in ensuring equitable career paths for students in lower-income and front-line communities.  
• Empower and fund NOAA to expand its programs for the climate education of meteorologists, particularly broadcast meteorologists. 
• Health Professionals: Increase funding for the educational programs of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences for content about the health impacts of climate change.