Climate Smart & Energy Wise

Currently serving as Senior Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies at the National University for Public Service in Budapest, Hungary, Mark S. McCaffrey served as Programs and Policy Director at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) and was co-author of "Climate Confusion Among U.S. Science Teachers" in the journal Science in February of 2016. He was an Associate Scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 2001 to 2011 and played a catalytic role in initiating and deploying the Climate Literacy and Energy Literacy frameworks. He was a co-founder of the Climate Literacy & Energy Literacy Network (CLEAN), and member of the International Polar Year Education, Outreach and Communications Committee. He holds a graduate degree in education from the University of Northern Colorado where he focused on water as an interdisciplinary and integrating theme for teaching. McCaffrey helped establish an education affinity group with the National Climate Assessment Network, which is a public private partnership organized under the auspices of the U.S. Global Change Research Program.

Foreword by Eugenie C. Scott and Jay B. Labov About the Author Introduction Chapter 1. Climate and Energy 101 Chapter 2. Teaching (and Learning) About Climate Challenges and Energy Solutions Chapter 3. Syncing With the Standards Chapter 4. Teaching Climate Literacy Chapter 5. Teaching Energy Literacy Chapter 6. Programs That Work Chapter 7. Countering Skepticism, Denial, and Despair Chapter 8. Knowledge, Know-How, and Informed Action Appendix I. Voices for Climate Education Appendix II. Excerpts From Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science Appendix III. Excerpts From Energy Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts for Energy Education References Index

"The climate change education cavalry has arrived! Climate Smart - Energy Wise: Advancing Science Literacy, Knowledge and Know-how by Mark S. McCaffrey is a must-have resource for all educators striving to increase climate and energy literacy of our K-12 student population. In a nutshell, this book is a roadmap beginning with climate and energy basics and ending with a bold ten year action plan to "tackle the climate and energy challenges of the 21st century through improved literacy and learning environments". Along the way the reader learns best practices for teaching climate and energy issues with each chapter ending with numerous links to educational resources listed by grade level. These resources are worth the price of the book alone." -- Scott A. Mandia, Professor of Physical Sciences "Climate Smart and Energy Wise is an honest and realistic take on what's possible for the future of climate and energy education. McCaffrey's optimism about society's ability to cope with the alarming reality of global change is founded on the potential of our educational system and its ability to inform and improve students', teachers', and parents' understanding of our world. McCaffrey ties the disparate aspects of climate science together. This book is a resource with many more resources within it so that educators can begin addressing climate education in their classrooms right away." -- Laura Faye Tenenbaum, Education Specialist "This is an excellent resource for all educators - from novices to master teachers - who are struggling to decide when and how to teach about climate change. It contains a well-researched and well-organized compendium of factual information and relevant concepts in both life sciences and earth sciences, along with strategies and links to diverse and detailed resources for teaching. McCaffrey has been working in the field of climate education for years, knows both the field and important players well, and presents a number of interesting new ways to present this vital information. McCaffrey also does an excellent job coordinating important facts and concepts related to climate change with new national standards, in the process, putting this material into the larger context of revitalizing and reinvigorating science education." -- Joseph Levine, Science Educator, Writer, Producer, Co-author of Biology "Climate Smart - Energy Wise provides a roadmap to teachers to assist them in acquiring the background and resources to bring climate and energy education into their classrooms . . . It provides a wealth of information to help teachers find resources, including the very useful Climate Literacy and Energy Literacy frameworks, developed by scientists and master teachers. This small book is packed with suggestions for where a teacher can find more information and classroom guidance for the teaching of global climate change." -- From the Foreword by Eugenie C. Scott "How do we prepare students for global change? This book envisions schools that are "living laboratories of innovation,"that provide students with the knowledge they will need to live in a very different-and much warmer-world. The book shows how climate can act as an integrative thread bringing together science, math and "virtually any other topic or discipline and how Climate change effects every aspect of our lives." The book also emphasizes that we must teach about climate change through a lens of hope, focusing on the positive things we all can -and must--do. Climate literacy provides a unified concept that makes STEM education and the Next Generation Science Standards relevant through natural links to the most important issues of our time." -- Lynne Cherry, Author, Empowering Young Voices for the Planet "The United States has a serious science literacy problem as witnessed by the statements made by local, state, and federal officials about global warming and other topics. One way to combat this is to improve science education at the K-12 level by providing the instructional materials needed by science teachers. This should be a valuable reference for those involved in science education." -- NSTA Recommends