The Political Context of Climate-Health Education

Abstract

Shea et al 1 report on an important study regarding education on climate and health (climate-health).Of 84 institutions responding to a survey on climate-health education, almost two-thirds reported that they offered some climate-health education, commonly in the core curriculum, and many were planning to extend their offerings. From the perspective of a climate-health educator, these findings are encouraging, but some caution is needed.The survey was conducted with members of the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE). The response rate was slightly over 50% (84 of 160 institutions). Most respondents reported a positive response to instituting climate-health curricula, particularly from students, followed by faculty. Just under 40%, however, reported a positive response from administration. Respondents also discussed challenges in developing climate-health curricula, including lack of staff time, lack of teaching materials or staff expertise, and lack of funding for curriculum development. Other challenges included "competing institutional priorities/politics," and a small number of respondents (4) mentioned "administrative or other skepticism about climatehealth science." 1Research on public health practice has identified similar challenges, including politicization of climate change, competing organizational priorities, hierarchical management structures, and a discursive context in which climate change may not be seen as core business for public health. 2,3 These factors can interact and potentially create an atmosphere through which public health practitioners are discouraged from addressing climate-health issues. It is possible that similar factors are at work in some academic settings.

Climate change in public health and medical curricula in Australia and New Zealand: a mixed methods study of educator perceptions of barriers and areas for further action

“…In a recent study of academics teaching climate change in China, a new strategy for climate change inclusion in higher education institutions was adopted in response to the US rejection of the Paris Climate Agreement (33). These external influences impact on the ability and capacity of public health practitioners and academics to create an integrated climate-health curriculum (34). A counterpoint to this is the important role of advocacy raised by all our interviewees.…”