Climate Literacy for Public Health Education
What exactly is a greenhouse gas? What’s the difference between weather and climate? How is global warming different from climate change?
Faculty Director Sue J. Goldie is drawing on a whiteboard for the climate workshop.
If you don’t know the answer to these questions, you are not alone. In late September, staff at the Global Health Education and Learning Incubator (GHELI) joined Faculty Director Sue J. Goldie for a climate workshop. Professor Goldie walked through a few basics of climate change, such as how greenhouse gasses warm the atmosphere, in typical GHELI style: using drawings to visualize key concepts.
Some instructors skip teaching the basics because they assume students already know them. However, said Goldie, you would be surprised by how many people wouldn’t be able to explain the core principles of climate change if asked in a blind setting. Goldie believes having basic “climate literacy” is fundamental to understanding the downstream health impacts of climate change.
This year, GHELI plans to give special focus to teaching the health impacts of climate change. Having attended the workshop, staff are now better equipped to support the Incubator in its educational mission. To learn more about how climate relates to health, visit our Climate Change and Public Health resource pack.