Story Spark: Education Disrupted
This school year will likely be the hottest students have ever faced as a historic El Niño develops amid a planet already broiling under climate change. After a “stolen summer” marked by frequent heatwaves and plumes of wildfire smoke forced children indoors, students don’t have a lot to look forward to as they head back to school.
Outdated school buildings built for cooler climates are overheating; it’s estimated that 36,000 schools in the US need to update or replace their HVAC systems. Low-tech cooling options, like keeping doors and windows open to promote air flow, are often restricted because they may increase security risks in the event, for example, of a school shooting. This excessive heat impairs attention, memory, and focus, and, much like other climate impacts, it affects people unequally. Black, Latino, and low-income students experience three to four times more learning loss from heat exposure compared to white and affluent peers, largely due to unequal infrastructure like access to AC.
Worsening heat isn’t the only climate impact disrupting education. Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, droughts, and other climate disasters can keep kids away from school too. UNICEF estimates that 1.1 billion children face at least three overlapping climate hazards globally. In 2024 alone, at least 242 million students worldwide (9 million in the US) had their schooling disrupted by climate events. Studies once again show that these disruptions negatively impact student performance, particularly among those who are already struggling.
Explore how schools are adapting to worsening climate challenges, even as federal and state governments stymie efforts to protect children and lower carbon emissions. Examine why school districts aren’t upgrading their infrastructure and safety measures to mitigate heat, increase climate resilience, and adapt when extreme disasters throw a wrench in education — as the heat specifically and climate crisis generally get worse this year — and long after today’s students graduate.
– David Dickson, CCNow
Expert Tips
This edition’s tips come to you from Caroline Preston, managing editor of The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit outlet covering education. She leads the Hechinger newsroom and writes a newsletter on the impact of the climate crisis on schools and how education can help alleviate it.
Climate-education stories abound. Climate change affects schoolchildren in many ways: Hot classrooms make it difficult to learn, disasters close school buildings and draw on district budgets, student absenteeism rises as kids’ physical and mental health worsen, and more. At the same time, education is key to preparing young people for a planet altered by climate change. More states and school districts are recognizing this, and some are introducing climate lessons beginning in kindergarten, infusing climate change into subjects as diverse as the arts and physical education, and adding career-oriented classes in fields like sustainability, disaster preparation, and clean energy.
Student and teacher voices are critical. Young people are often on the forefront of climate advocacy both in school and beyond. To find students and teachers to interview, I often start with school environmental clubs and “green teams.” Some school systems employ sustainability officers who can speak to their district’s climate impact and efforts to reduce it. Teachers unions — a few of which have advocated for school climate action while bargaining their labor contracts — are good sources, too.
Hold schools, colleges, and policy makers accountable. Education institutions are big energy consumers and emitters. Some are trying to reduce their carbon footprint, but that work is uneven and has slowed during the Trump administration. Resources for teaching about climate change are also under attack at the federal level and in some states. Groups like the Aspen Institute’s This is Planet Ed, Brown University’s SustainableED, and the National Center for Science Education can help reporters sift through the research and policy.
Stories We Like
- Seven years after a super typhoon leveled a school in Saipan, a small US territory in the Pacific, the community still is without a proper building for middle school education. Honolulu Civil Beat explores how tropical systems, which are being made worse by climate change, can have lasting impacts to learning.
- Middle school is hard enough, and climate anxiety is making it worse. Grist highlights a toolkit developed to help teachers address their students’ concerns.
- Capital B News examines how Black students often face outsized challenges after a climate disaster wreaks havoc on their classrooms, homes, and support systems.
- NBC News explores the challenges and limited solutions available for students in Puerto Rico, where school facilities are neither designed nor prepared to face hotter and more frequent heatwaves.
Resources
- Check out Climate Central’s resources examining climate impacts on schools across the US, as well as the solutions that create safer, healthier learning environments.
- Explore stats on how climate change disrupted education across the world with UNICEF’s latest report.
- New to covering climate disasters? Find expert guidance for newsrooms to effectively prepare for reporting on hurricanes, extreme heat, flooding, and more in the new Emergency Mode for News action packs.
- Find where clean energy projects are happening across higher education institutions nationwide through an interactive map on Second Nature’s website.
Experts and Sources
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- Grace Wickerson, senior manager of climate and health, Federation of American Scientists
- Joellen Russell, climate scientist, University of Arizona
- Moms Clean Air Force, a non-profit community focused on protecting children’s health from worsening climate impacts and air pollution
Before We Go…
The next Locally Sourced will examine how to cover the impact of wildfire smoke. Hazardous smoke from wildfires in North America and Europe is traveling thousands of miles away from the blazes, impacting air quality for huge regions of the world. Have you reported on this climate impact and how it’s impacting vulnerable communities in your area? Send them to us at local[at]coveringclimatenow[dot]org. We’d love to consider them for the next edition of Locally Sourced and our media trainings and social platforms.
NEW! The South Atlantic Climate Journalism Hub (SAJCH). CCNow is launching a regional support project for journalists working in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. There’s no cost to join or membership fees. Email david@coveringclimatenow.org with questions or to join.
Want more story ideas? Check out the Locally Sourced archive for more topics to explore, including AI data centers, coastal flooding, air transportation, and more.
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