{"id":59,"date":"2026-01-06T22:11:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:11:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-25-26\/?p=59"},"modified":"2026-01-07T17:13:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:13:25","slug":"its-real-its-us-its-bad-theres-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/its-real-its-us-its-bad-theres-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s real. It\u2019s us. It\u2019s bad. There\u2019s hope."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When award-winning journalist Katie Worth began reporting on climate change for Frontline PBS, she and her colleagues had an unusual amount of freedom. \u201cWe could go anywhere in the world\u2014we just needed to tell a story about climate change,\u201d she said. They chose the Marshall Islands, where rising seas already threaten homes, schools and livelihoods. The project, The Last Generation, followed young students living at the front lines of a crisis they could see outside their classroom windows. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those children\u2019s understanding of the climate crisis\u2014remarkably informed for their age\u2014sparked a critical question for Worth: What would they learn about climate change if they moved to the United States? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That question became the foundation of Worth\u2019s investigative work into how climate change is taught\u2014or avoided\u2014in American classrooms. She found that while nearly all climate scientists agree humans are responsible for global warming, two-thirds of U.S. science teachers present the topic as a debate. Some educators even teach that the phenomenon is natural, reflecting the political and ideological pressures shaping curriculum decisions at the local and state levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know what\u2019s happening behind every classroom door,\u201d Worth said, \u201cbut surveys show most teachers spend only a few hours a year on climate change, and not all of what they teach is scientifically accurate.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worth shared these insights as a keynote speaker at the SENCER West Coast Regional Conference: Broadening Participation in Undergraduate Climate Education, held Sept. 18\u201319, on campus. Organized by HMC\u2019s Hixon Center for Climate and the Environment and the Office of Civic and Community Engagement, the conference brought together educators, researchers and community leaders to explore how inclusive approaches can strengthen climate teaching and learning. Worth\u2019s talk, \u201cCensoring the Future: How Climate Change is Taught in America,\u201d encouraged participants to look critically at the systems that shape students\u2019 understanding of climate change. She traced decades of efforts by fossil fuel companies to influence K\u201312 education through industry-sponsored materials and classroom resources, from the 1950s \u201cMagic Barrel\u201d presentation to today\u2019s fossil fuel\u2013funded curricula still used in states like Oklahoma and Texas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
K. Wayne Yang, Katie Worth and Hixon Center Director and Professor of Climate Studies and
Chemistry Lelia Hawkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She also highlighted teachers who resist misinformation, including those who create safe, evidence-based spaces for students to discuss a crisis that affects their daily lives. \u201cThere are incredible educators everywhere who teach this topic carefully, compassionately and with hope,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are helping the next generation see that climate change is real, it\u2019s us, it\u2019s bad\u2014but there\u2019s hope,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sense of hope and community action echoed throughout the conference. Alongside Worth\u2019s presentation, UC San Diego Muir College Provost K. Wayne Yang spoke about the launch of a UCSD-wide climate change graduation requirement, while Krista Hiser, professor of composition and rhetoric at Kapi\u2018olani Community College, led two interactive workshops focused on climate anxiety and empowerment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty, staff and students from across the region presented research in three key areas: institutional change; the humanities, social sciences and the arts; and civic and community engagement. Poster sessions and breaks between panels gave attendees opportunities to share strategies for integrating climate learning across disciplines and institutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worth concluded her keynote by returning to the children she met in the Marshall Islands and later, in Paradise, California, where she reported on students rebuilding their education after wildfires destroyed their town. In both places, she said, young people were grappling with climate change not as an abstract issue but as a lived reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat gives me hope,\u201d she said, \u201cis watching students and teachers confront this crisis together with curiosity, with courage and with care. Education has the power to plant seeds that will grow into solutions we can\u2019t yet imagine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SENCER West Coast Regional Conference showcased how educators across disciplines can work together to rewrite the narrative and, in doing so, help students imagine and create a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When award-winning journalist Katie Worth began reporting on climate change for Frontline PBS, she and her colleagues had an unusual amount of freedom. \u201cWe could go anywhere in the world\u2014we just needed to tell a story about climate change,\u201d she said. They chose the Marshall Islands, where rising seas already threaten homes, schools and livelihoods. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions\/97"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/fall-winter-2025-2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}