Climate Adaptation within our English curriculum
Why English? If you are an English Teacher passionate about protecting our planet and empowering pupils and staff to tackle the climate and ecological crisis, on the surface, it may seem you are teaching the wrong subject – surely issues around changes in climate belongs in geography or science? But actually, as English teachers, we are in the brilliant position to highlight and push the environmental focus within our existing topics. Before we explore why, let’s look at some maths. Our Current Situation This graph, from The Guardian, demonstrates how we’ve just experienced the warmest February on record globally - 1.77C warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month - making it the ninth month in a row with record temperatures for the time of year. This, of course, matches the rise in carbon dioxide levels, but note too how the trajectory of the graphs mirror record profit rises from major fossil fuel companies. As global warming increases, as CO2 emis...