What does the “Next Generation” Require of Us? – Climate Generation

I have developed and updated 15 resources in my four years at Climate Generation. However, the 2025 update of Next Generation Climate for grades 6-8 (NGC) felt significantly more challenging. For the first time, I faced an atmosphere of federal pushback against the validity of climate change science and education. I struggled to find alternative sources for data sets and graphs that I would normally access from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Resources I wanted to share, like the 2024 Climate Literacy Principles, disappeared from websites as quickly as I found them. I wrote words like “climate justice” and “equity”, wondering how many educators would avoid downloading NGC due to anti-DEI policies. Honestly, the process was disheartening at times. The chaos sowed by the federal government created uncertainty, as intended.

However, amidst the uncertainty exists a more powerful feeling: a conviction that climate change curricula like NGC are more needed than ever.

As government agencies like NOAA and the EPA are dismantled, limiting their abilities to inform the public about climate adaptation strategies and protect us from environmental threats, it is crucial that our students have access at school to information about how climate change impacts their daily lives and futures. Education is a climate solution because an informed public is one that can make the necessary changes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to local climate impacts.

Beyond climate science and data, the updated NGC builds on previous versions to bring a more human-centered approach. Our students need inspiration to take localized climate action to create safer, more equitable futures. In the 2025 edition, you will see: 

• Discussions of the social, economic, and political causes of climate change;
• Examples of leaders in climate justice movements;
• More guidance for how to take climate action; and 
• Opportunities for reflection and mindfulness to support students’ mental health.

Education is not only a climate solution; it is now an act of resistance.

Teaching concepts like climate change and climate justice can oppose the oppression and cruelty we’re witnessing at the federal level. Educating about what’s really happening, what people experience every day, is necessary for students to feel safe, secure, and supported, so that they don’t feel that they alone care about the crises facing our world. We need to show students that most people care, and that together we can leverage our efforts toward making the world a better place for all. We need educational resources that center our collective humanity; foster empathy for all of life; celebrate working for the common good, not individual gain; and give students opportunities to develop the knowledge, skills, confidence, and motivation to live into their values and take positive action.

We know that in some states, the reality of censoring words and concepts like climate change has existed for some time. It can be risky to teach directly about climate change in some places. For those whose states follow the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), remember that the standards directly mention human-caused climate change and offer foundational concepts for understanding it. NGC includes a table of the NGSS performance expectations most closely associated with the lessons. For others, we must remember that we are a collective. We can all contribute in some way; some of us can say climate change, and some of us can talk about the weather. Some of us can use the full NGC curriculum, and others may incorporate small ideas from it. 

Restrictions in education aren’t really about specific words; they’re about controlling narratives, erasing truth, and amassing power against the people. It’s hard work, but in times of uncertainty, it can help to focus on what we can control.

As educators, we can influence what happens in our learning spaces:

• We can localize climate change so that our students see the personal effects and tangible opportunities for change. 
• We can integrate community science so that students can participate in researching and communicating about climate issues and solutions. 
• We can discuss the root causes of climate change (even without saying climate change) — how our global legacy of hurting the many to enrich the few has impacted everything from wars to housing stability to the air and water we need to live. 
• We can facilitate civic engagement in everything from writing to legislators, to planting trees, to creating public art with a message. 
• We can share stories with our students that inspire them to be kind, honest, fair, and brave. 

We hope that NGC provides enough inroads that everyone can find a path to introduce their students to climate change, particularly the ways in which we can take action together to protect and nurture ourselves and our environment.

In the final week of editing NGC, I triple-checked a link to a graph from NOAA; one that depicts the data collected since the 1880s showing the substantial increase in land and ocean temperatures over the past century. Not surprisingly, the link no longer exists. I left the graph in Appendix B with the citation to a broken link; to me, this data tells an essential story that we cannot fully appreciate with another figure. This administration is trying to overwhelm us, to silence us, to exhaust us to the point of inaction. But they will not succeed; they cannot, for the sake of our planet and the next generations after us.

Moments of uncertainty are an invitation to determine what you are certain about.

What and whom do you value? What are you going to do about it? Climate Generation will continue to do this work as long as we are able. While we always advocate for rest and self-care, we also encourage you to find ways you can plug into everyday actions. We hope that, for many of you, it might look like downloading NGC and facilitating the activities with your students. Together, we can make a positive impact on our present and future. No matter your situation, Climate Generation’s staff and resources will support you along the way.

Marie grew up in Wisconsin on the ancestral and contemporary lands of the Menominee, Potowatomi, and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ and the contemporary lands of the Oneida. Marie’s fascination with human relationships to the earth led her to study Environmental Education and Spanish Language at UW-Stevens Point and later earn her master’s degree in Environmental Studies and Environmental Education from Antioch University New England. She’s pursued her varied interests at multiple nature centers and an aquarium in Minnesota; community gardens in New Hampshire; and as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua. At Climate Generation, Marie loves creating resources that encourage people to be curious, connect deeply, and work collaboratively. When she’s not writing curriculum, she enjoys hiking, cross country skiing, reading, and spending time with her husband and her dog, Merlin.