Through the efforts of the United Nations (UN), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other international organizations, huge strides have been made in terms of bringing awareness to the dangers of climate change; however, a lot of the focus is on the technical solutions instead of social solutions. (Dahl, 2020) Rather than focus on the financial implications on how to fund these new technologies and implement them in a larger capacity, the focus should also include climate change education, and raising the next generation with the tools to address climate change at its root cause: our own activities such as overfishing, deforestation, and burning fossil fuels. 

There still exists a large gap between scientific knowledge and technologies and societal understanding of the issue. “Education is needed because, in the case of climate change, learning from experience is learning too late. The delay between decisions that cause climate change, and their full societal impact can range from decades to millennia” (Ledley et al., 2017).  Rather than focusing our energy on just the technological solutions and advancements we have made in the fight against climate change, more of a social, systematic change must take place to make enough progress (Ledley et al., 2017).

This is a message embraced by the United Nations, particularly the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) sector of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ESD has made a framework that outlines what exactly needs to be done to reach climate change mitigation goals as it relates to education by 2030. In the ESD for 2030 Framework, specific plans on building confidence/climate literacy in educators, enacting policy change, and even how to monitor progress are all outlined and discussed. (Education for Sustainable Development: A Roadmap – UNESCO Digital Library, n.d.) However, a study done by UNESCO in 2021 found that more than half of the curricular plans of the countries analyzed in their study made no references to climate change, and only 19% even mentioned biodiversity. (UNESCO Declares Environmental Education Must Be a Core Curriculum Component by 2025 | UNESCO, n.d.) In addition, only a few countries have actually mandated climate change education in their public schooling systems, despite almost 200 countries being signatories of the education objective of the Paris Agreement. (Ellerbeck, 2022)

The Paris Agreement which is an international treaty on climate change which puts particular attention on lowering the temperature over the long term by limiting activities that release carbon dioxide. However, in 2020 the Trump administration infamously withdrew the United States from the agreement. Though rejoining the Paris Agreement was among the first actions taken by the Biden Administration, the uncertainty during the years the United States was planning on leaving and was absent from the treaty caused local governments to take matters into their own hands. One such municipality, the City of Easton, joined the global Covenant of Mayors (GCoM) for climate and energy in 2016 in an effort to continue making progress locally. The GCoM includes tens of thousands of cities worldwide and enables cities to collaborate and engage with international organizations, and each other. Easton’s membership in the GCoM is not where their participation in climate change mitigation ends, however. (Easton, PA Is Taking Action on Climate Change, n.d.)

The Pennsylvania Climate Change Act was passed in 2008 which requires that the Department of Environmental Protection adheres to a schedule of risk assessments, creates an advisory committee, and provides a greenhouse gas inventory annually. In congruence with the statewide plan, with the help of the Nurture Nature Center, as well as some Lafayette College students and staff, Easton’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) was born in 2019 and later officially adopted in October 2021. (The City of Easton’s Climate Action Plan | Nurture Nature Foundation, n.d.) The CAP was also in part informed by a Vulnerability Assessment produced by an engineering studies class, “Sustainable Solutions” taught by Professors Nicodemus and Cohen at Lafayette College. (Students in Sustainable Solutions Course Contribute to Easton Climate Action Plan · Engineering · Lafayette College, n.d.)

Initially, the Nurture Nature Center started as a hub for the city’s flood education and outreach efforts and has since broadened its scope. The center is now working in collaboration with the city of Easton to spearhead community building events, organize cleanup events and help to contextualize Easton’s climate action plans to the community. Furthermore, by placing a heavier emphasis on the creation and visualization of art, the Nurture Nature Center is allowing younger generations to start participating in this process. By allowing for the Easton community to not only share their sense of creativity through various different forms of art, but the Nurture Nature Center is also providing a direct path work for the community as well as this foundation to work together and share their knowledge with one another on the city they all call their home. More importantly, the Nurture Nature Center also hosts a variety of different programs, series, and events, all of which target different age groups and are inclusive towards the city and those surrounding it. These events are categorized into three groups, of which they place a heavier focus of different topics on. More of their science heavy events that take place throughout the year are “Science on a Sphere” which is used as an educational tool to exemplify and demonstrate the works of science behind the earth and is done so in a way which allows different age groups to further gain deeper understanding for this topic. By using this educational tool, Nurture Nature Center is able to simulate flooding events, changing weather patterns and other phenomena, including depicting climate change’s impending toll on everyday life. 

Another education tool used by the Nurture Nature Center is their four art galleries and exhibition spaces. One of the more well-known exhibitions, “Perspectives”, allows exploration of environmental issues through the use of and work of art, which allows for the viewers to become further engaged, passionate and well versed in this ongoing event, which has gone on to enter its sixth year of existence. Lastly, the Nurture Nature Center hosts events for the community which highlight and show an overlap in both scientific and artistic approaches. Right on the premises, the Nurture Nature Center has an urban recycle garden, which recycles everyday material used by the community as a way of planting fresh food and flowers. While the garden functions as a space for decoration, its main impact is in the way that it illustrates the way in which low cost gardening and growing techniques can be applied, and hosts workshops that are open to the community that further delve further into this aspect (Climate Series and Earth as Art | Nurture Nature Foundation, n.d.). Overall, the Nurture Nature Center serves as a wonderful bridge between its community members, science education, and artistic expression. Its unique situation at the crossroads of these ideals makes it a prime organization for collaboration with sustainability efforts, volunteers, and the general student body of Lafayette College. 

For the past few years, the Nurture Nature Center has planned and carried out a yearly event called the Climate Symposium, which is specifically targeting K-12 students. Last year’s event featured a “TEDTalk” themed speaker who spoke on their research and ended with the kids producing book covers as an artistic deliverable to reflect on what they had learned during the event. Through this symposium, the Nurture Nature Center seeks to engage a wide range of students and kids in general and inspire them/impassion them about climate change. This is indicative of Nurture Nature Center’s passion to work with the Easton Community and further provide links and connections as a direct pathway into climate change education. After a preliminary conversation with Kate Semmens, the Science Director at the Nurture Nature Center who has played a large role in the creation and progress of the Climate symposium, in addition to looking at the data from multiple studies about students and climate change, we have found that students in the middle and high school age range know what climate change is and are more interested in hands-on activities and learning; Kate herself said that “they are tired of sitting around listening to what is happening and want to take action” (K. Semmens, Personal Communication, 24 October 2022). These students are seeking knowledge in solutions to lessen their own contributions to climate change. In addition to educating about the technical aspects of climate change, it is important to recognize the impact even just one person can have on the environment. This approach is what gives credibility to using community outreach and education as additional methods to help mitigate the impacts of climate change. 

The Nurture Nature Center’s role in the city has evolved over the years, as they took on the role of stewards of the Climate Action Plan and are making significant contributions to the city as a whole; running the climate symposium is certainly something they have done on their own in the past, but this is a wonderful opportunity for the sustainability efforts on Lafayette College’s campus to get involved and engage with the Easton Community.

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