in about a week, acc will host the first-ever global conservative climate summit at cop26 with international partners from the united kingdom and australia. this summit will bring together conservative leaders from across the globe to discuss market-based approaches to the environmental challenges that their home countries – and the world at large – face. this is a historic moment that means so much to me personally because it will be one of the first events that showcases conservative leadership on environmental issues on the world stage.

four years ago, i never would have imagined that the acc could make this much progress in such a short time. but too much of the republican party is still associated with climate denial, even as efforts such as the house’s conservative climate caucus advocate for climate solutions. challenges still remain, and my organization often faces opposition by both those on the right, who say we go too far, and those on the left, who say we don’t go far enough. we’re far from done in our push for pragmatic, realistic climate action. still, i have been so encouraged by the massive steps forward we have taken, and it only motivates me to continue to push for more action.

cop26 is a huge opportunity for global cooperation on the issue of climate change. if we truly want to 2022年卡塔尔世界杯官网 , we must push a diverse set of solutions to climate change. that includes clean energy and reducing our emission output, but it also includes things like natural climate solutions and breakthrough technologies to reduce greenhouse gases already in our atmosphere.

climate change is obviously a challenge, but i prefer to look at it as an opportunity. by promoting innovation and actionable solutions, we can help create a better world for future generations, one that adapts to current effects of climate change and prevents further warming. at cop26, i hope to encourage others to have this perspective as well and use cop as a launching pad for real climate action.

—

about the author: 

benji backer, who will be at cop26, is the president and founder of the american conservation coalition, a non-profit organization that engages young conservatives on environmental issues like climate change. benji is from wisconsin and based in seattle. 

the global conservative climate summit will be held nov. 10-11, 2021, in glasgow.

—

editor’s note: please check back every day, leading up to the beginning of cop26 on oct. 31, for new pieces from climate leaders in the planet forward network.

despite increased awareness and concern surrounding climate change, a recent study from the pew research center shows that the issue remains highly divisive and political. ninety-four percent of democrats and left-leaning independents consider climate change a major threat to the nation while only 19% of conservative republicans believe the same.

though naperville is a rather conservative city, most of the teachers at neuqua valley ended up using the donated books as doorstops, according to rhonda stibbe, a biology and horticulture teacher there.

while this incident proves that there are climate change deniers in the area, stibbe has not seen that in the classroom. she acknowledged that there might be things that students have heard at home or seen on social media but said that her students are actually very excited to learn about climate change.

“when you put the information in their hands, i think they can reason it out,” stibbe said. “this generation is very, very visual. there’s a lot of data out there, there’s a lot of maps, there’s a lot of things that you can see.”

students’ receptiveness to learning about climate change in areas such as naperville may simply be explained by a generational difference but could also be attributed to a change in political climate.

anna kraftson, a biology teacher and learning support coach at naperville north high school, said that the political alignment has shifted dramatically since she first moved to the area around 15 years ago. though she initially thought it was conservative and religious, she now finds it to be rather moderate. 

“i first started teaching a couple decades ago,” kraftson said. “kids were like, ‘i don’t believe in evolution.’”

in a study from the pew research center in 2007, 51% of americans said that humans have evolved over time. that number has since increased significantly and is up to 81% as of their study earlier this year.

kraftson has seen drastic changes in students’ receptiveness to evolution, and now finds little problem teaching the subject. however, she said that she faces similar frustration toward the idea of “believing” in climate change.

“it’s just a statement,” kraftson said. “there’s data. it’s not like ‘i believe in this’ or ‘i don’t believe in this.’ it’s more like, ‘this is the evidence.’”

paul vandersteen, an environmental science teacher at neuqua valley high school, has experienced similar issues when teaching evolution and has tried to approach climate change in the same way. he said his responsibility as a science teacher is to present his students with evidence and allow them to make their own conclusions. 

“i think it’s important that teachers address what science is before they venture into climate change,” vandersteen said. “you take down the defenses when you present to them the nature of science. and once you present the nature of science, there really is no defense.”

while teachers in more conservative areas must find specific tools and approaches for teaching climate change, they don’t always have too much time to employ them. 

according to biology and environmental science teachers at naperville north, neuqua valley, and wheaton north high schools, climate change is built into the curriculum. however, according to five teachers we interviewed from those schools, the time spent on climate change varied between just two and three weeks, almost a quarter of the time evanston township high school teachers spend on the subject on average.  

vandersteen said that he teaches climate change for five to six class periods, around two weeks, in his ap environmental science class. he said he spends enough time on the subject. 

“i have adequate time to do it justice,” vandersteen said. “any more time and i think they might get bored with it.”

while vandersteen fears his students will get bored after a few days, some biology teachers at evanston township high school, located in the neighboring liberal district of cook county, say they spend weeks to months of the year teaching climate change in their introductory biology courses. 

the county board is currently controlled by the democratic party with a 15 to two margin.

adriane slaton, a biology teacher at evanston township, spends roughly 12 weeks on climate change with her freshman and sophomore students. for their final project, her students take statements that deny climate change and refute them with scientific evidence. many of her students become rather passionate about climate change after this unit and some have even become vegetarians as a result, slaton said. 

“i thought this was a really important subject to talk about and make sure that students could argue against climate change denial using evidence and reasoning,” slaton said. “it’s been kind of cool to see what their personal changes have been and the personal decisions that they start to shift when they are realizing that they themselves can do something.”

while slaton and many other teachers at evanston township do choose to put so much time and care into teaching climate change, there really isn’t a curriculum for it, slaton said. instead, the time spent on climate change is up to each individual teacher. according to slaton, there are still a few biology teachers at evanston township who don’t teach climate change at all.

“biology is growing exponentially,” slaton said. “so there’s always something important, another important topic to still address. if i had my way, biology would be three years or four years long, and then maybe we would start hitting (climate change).”

evanston township science department chair terri sowa-imbo said their commitment to teaching climate change is not about political alignment, but a growing urgency. 

“it’s something that everyone needs to know, they need to be able to decipher real news and data from fake news and data. and it’s — there’s a lot of that out there,” sowa-imbo said.