Dear Colleagues:

 

This fall climate experts issued urgent calls to climate action (1). As University faculty, we know the increased scope and magnitude of climate disruption requires timely and sustained responses. We understand that preventing and mitigating the consequences of climate change necessitates knowledge, experience, and skills – at the breadth and depth that universities foster. We further appreciate that every single one of the university’s departments can contribute meaningfully to just and effective climate action by strengthening ASU’s curriculum.     

 

We invite you to better prepare our students for a climate changed future by pledging to immediately integrate and/or strengthen the integration of climate change content in your teaching (2). As of December 12, 2018, more than 70 ASU faculty pledged to do what they can to improve student understandings of the multiple dimensions and consequences of climate change, including how to evaluate and enact meaningful responses. These pledges represent more than 200 courses, inclusive of all colleges and schools and 25 departments. This is impressive, but we can and must do more. While we recognize that not all faculty are prepared to teach climate change and climate action in their courses at the present moment, we hope that you will commit to collaborating with us across disciplines to begin building those pedagogical capabilities that a new era clearly demands. Let’s work together to foster a healthier, wiser, more vibrant, resilient, and just future for our students, ourselves, and our communities.  Please read and sign the pledge below.

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I hereby pledge to develop and/or strengthen a climate curriculum in my classes--to the greatest extent reasonable given my teaching focus and abilities--that provides students with the knowledge, skills, creativity, and power necessary to understand climate change and its consequences and to contribute to just, sustainable, and resilient communities in an era of climate disruption.

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(1) See the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 C and the United States Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment.

(2) Please contact the ASU Climate Action Collective to discuss strategies and support for integration or to support colleagues across departments in improving climate curriculum.