Climate Literacy: Essential Principles for Understanding and Addressing Climate Change

Climate Literacy: Essential Principles for Understanding and Addressing Climate Change presents information that is important for individuals and communities to know and understand about Earth’s climate, the impacts of climate change, and solutions. Principles in the guide can serve as discussion-starters or launching points for learning about the climate crisis and what’s being done to address it across the world. The guide aims to promote greater climate literacy by providing an educational and communication framework of essential principles and concepts.

This guide is written with educators, communicators, and decision-makers in mind. It may be helpful in structuring curricula; assessing gains in people’s knowledge and understanding; stimulating dialogue among people with different interests, skills, and perspectives; and informing climate-related decisions and policies. The guide is also written for anyone who wants to understand how human activities are changing the climate, how climate change impacts people and our planet, and what can be done about it. It applies primarily to the United States, although many of its findings and resources can be applied broadly.