When the school year begins in Italy next September, students in all grades will learn about climate change in civics classes—and the subject will also begin to be part of the curriculum in classes such as math and physics. The country is the first to make climate change a mandatory part of education. “I want to make the Italian education system the first education system that puts the environment and society at the core of everything we learn in school,” Lorenzo Fioramonti, Italy’s education minister, told Reuters . The government is working with experts, including Jeffrey Sachs, the director of the Harvard Institute for International Development, to give feedback to staff developing the new curriculum, and teacher training will begin in January. For the youngest elementary school students, lessons might come in the form of fairy-tale-like stories that illustrate the role of the environment. Older students will study the science, and high school students will study the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The lessons will take up 33 hours a year, or nearly an hour a week. The government sees the changes as critical. “The 21st-century citizen must be a sustainable citizen,” Fioramonti told the New York […]
Italy is the first country to require climate change lessons in school

Latest Articles
“Securing Indigenous guardianship of vital ecosystems”: Q&A with Nia Tero CEO Peter Seligmann
One of the dominant trends in conservation over the past 20 years has been growing recognition of the contributions Indigenous peoples have made toward...
Tiny Urban Forests Are Popping Up on Brownfield Sites Across the Globe
Reforestation projects are key in collective efforts to revive biodiversity and limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C. It is estimated that by...
Boston moves ahead with ‘urban forest’ plan
Boston, MA. – February 12: The city of Boston is saying theyÕre going to focus on tree canopy on February 12, 2021 in...
This Wearable Uses Your Body Heat as an Energy Source
Image by Xiao Lab A team of researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder have developed a wearable that can tap into...
This “super plant” can actually absorb air pollution
Scientists at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have found that Cotoneaster franchetii could help absorb pollution on heavily trafficked roads. In a study...
For the First Time, Scientists Clone Endangered Species
Meet Elizabeth Ann, a black-footed ferret cloned from an animal that died 30 years ago. It’s Alive! For the first time, scientists cloned...