A piece in Daily Maverick highlights the climate crisis in South Africa, and how climate literacy is a necessary approach to fight climate change in the region.
South Africa is the continent’s leading producer of greenhouse gases. However, the country is not able to make the transition from fossil fuels to green energy due to increasing debt. This leaves non-monetary based transitions as the best option to help reduce the country’s carbon footprint. Climate literacy is such a non-monetary strategy to reach lower emissions.
Expanding environmental curriculum in schools will allow young people to gain knowledge about climate literacy and share information with their communities and families. The impacts of climate change are felt the most by vulnerable populations, so it is important to build climate-resilient communities through literacy.
Around the world, schools and teachers are working to implement climate education into their classrooms and curriculums to help tackle the climate crisis. At the same time, top-down commitments for formally mandated climate literacy are severely lacking.
Heightened ambition on climate literacy will play a key role in achieving net zero emissions and will provide the next generation with unique perspectives and solutions to environmental issues.