2021 -- S 0464

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION – THE CLIMATE LITERACY ACT

     Introduced By: Senators Lawson, Euer, Cano, Sosnowski, Murray, Seveney, Miller,
Kallman, Quezada, and Lombardi

     Date Introduced: March 04, 2021

     Referred To: Senate Education

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Title 16 of the General Laws entitled "EDUCATION" is hereby amended by

adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 110

THE CLIMATE LITERACY ACT

     16-110-1. Short title.

     This chapter shall be known and may be cited as "The Climate Literacy Act".

     16-110-2. Legislative findings.

     The legislature finds and declares that:

     (1) The evidence for human-induced climate change is overwhelming and undeniable, and

the heaviest burden of climate change impacts will fall on the next generation;

     (2) Nearly ten thousand (10,000) students graduate from Rhode Island high schools each

year, armed with skills and knowledge about the climate that inform their actions, and the effects

on the climate, positive or negative, of each of those ten thousand (10,000) students lasts beyond a

lifetime;

     (3) Those students need to be prepared to implement changes in professional and personal

practices, to support and help develop new technology and policy, and to address the coming social

and economic challenges and opportunities arising from a changing climate;

     (4) It is thus essential that each of these graduates are climate literate and understand key

environmental and sustainability principles;

     (5) A study published in Nature demonstrated that children who take a climate education

curriculum foster climate change concern among their parents;

     (6) According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communications, over seventy-six

percent (76%) of the people of Rhode Island support teaching students about the causes,

consequences, and potential solutions to climate change;

     (7) According to a recent national public radio poll, eighty-six percent (86%) of teachers

in the United States feel that climate change should be taught in schools;

     (8) A survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly half of

American teenagers say they have learned either little or nothing about the causes or ways to reduce

the effects of climate change, and that the number of teenagers who say they are being taught in

school about how to mitigate climate change appears to be on the decline. Sixty-one percent (61%)

say the issue of climate change is very or extremely important to them personally;

     (9) The National Science Teaching Association, the National Association of Geoscience

Teachers, and the National Association of Biology Teachers, as well as other professional education

organizations, have all called for greater support for science educators in teaching climate science

and climate change. In a recent paper in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,

scientists picked climate education as one of six (6) key societal transformations needed to address

the climate crisis;

     (10) The resilient Rhody report recommends that kindergarten through twelve (K-12)

education be expanded to include education on environmental literacy, including climate-related

emergency preparedness, by developing resources for school use and identifying how these

concepts can be incorporated into existing state standards.

     16-110-3. Purpose.

     The purpose and intent of this chapter is to ensure that all students attending public schools,

or other schools managed and controlled by the state, become environmentally and climate literate

by the time they graduate from twelfth grade.

     16-110-4. Implementation.

     The Rhode Island department of education shall:

     (1) In consultation with a wide representation from the environmental and climate

education community as well as practicing teachers, principals, and superintendents, develop a set

of key environmental, climate, and sustainability principles and concepts to be infused into all

science and civics and social studies courses throughout kindergarten through twelve (K-12), no

later than August 31, 2023;

     (2) In consultation with a wide representation from the environmental and climate

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education community as well as practicing teachers, principals, and superintendents, identify and

disseminate lessons, activities, and materials related to the environment, including potential career

paths, which are based on these key environmental, climate, and sustainability principles and

concepts while meeting the learning standards and grade span expectations to all Rhode Island

schools no later than August 31, 2024;

     (3) Produce and disseminate models and examples of how to incorporate climate change

into math and English language arts to teachers and schools no later than August 31, 2024;

     (4) Infuse these key environmental, climate, and sustainability principles and concepts into

the learning standards in science and the kindergarten through twelve (K-12) Rhode Island grade

span expectations for social studies where appropriate no later than August 31, 2025;

     (5) Ensure that all RIDE teacher professional development in science and civics and social

studies includes these key principles and concepts no later than August 31, 2026; and

     (6) Establish a "climate smart" award program to recognize high performing schools based

on the metrics of the US department of education green ribbon schools program and a "green apple"

award program to recognize kindergarten through twelve (K-12) teachers who develop and

implement high-quality instruction that addresses these key environmental, climate, and

sustainability principles and concepts no later than August 31, 2023.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO EDUCATION – THE CLIMATE LITERACY ACT

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     This act would implement literacy of climate change for all students enrolled in public

schools or other schools managed and controlled by the state in kindergarten through twelve (K-

12).

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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