The earth’s population has doubled three times during the past century. Humans have developed the capacity to shape the future rather than merely respond to it. To protect fragile ecosystems and build sustainable communities, resilient to climate change, a climate-literate citizenry is essential. Raising our awareness and knowledge about essential principles and fundamental concepts of our Earth’s climate system is necessary for improving our ability to make decisions about our activities. 

Climate literacy is an understanding of one’s influence on climate and climate’s influence on oneself and on society. A climate-literate person:

• understands the essential principles of Earth’s climate system,
• knows how to assess scientifically credible information about climate change
• communicates about climate and climate change in a meaningful way, and
• is able to make informed and responsible decisions with regard to actions that may affect climate.

OBJECTIVES

1. Raise the level of Climate Literacy by providing teaching and learning materials suitable to be horizontally introduced in adult and vocational education by:

•  Applying state of the art methodologies and pedagogical approaches

•  Implementing these through various educational modules

2. Develop new learning strategies and techniques to educate people effectively towards environmental sustainability by:

•  Observing, analyzing and experimenting with the applied methodologies

Through the project the following ACTIVITIES will be implemented:

1. A Needs Assessment report which will include analysis and discussion on the current state of the art and good practices, identifying the needs of the target groups. The findings will determine the basis for the subsequent activities.
2. E-learning modules on Climate Change related themes, suitable for adult learning, developed with the active involvement of target groups and stakeholders.
3. A Climate Literacy Curriculum which will make use of the modules developed, and will provide suggestions for educators on how to introduce climate subjects into their regular teaching techniques
4. A Climate Literacy Online Platform and Online Applications which will provide new means of interaction between learners and trainers, and through which the educational tools will be integrated
5. A Climate Literacy Validation and Implementation Report which will serve as a basis for improvement of the other outputs and verify the development of the materials through pilot tests and feedback from experts.

PROJECT PARTNERS

• Belgium, Flanders Technology International
• Cyprus, Centre for the Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology
• Austria, Wissenschaftsinitiative Niederösterreich
• Sweden, KOMMUNFORBUNDET SKANE
• Slovenia, INTEGRA INSTITUT, Institut za razvoj clovekovih potentialov
• Spain, Sociedad Aragonesa de gestión agroambiental
• Hungary, Dunántúli Mezogazdasági Szaktanácsadók Szovetsége
• France, ASSOCIATION SAVOIR APPRENDRE

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of CARDET, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.