Independent course strives to improve climate literacy on campus

A tiny political science independent study course has made climate education across campus the singular focus of its semester. 

PSCI 492 is a 3 credit independent study course, taught by political science professor Paul Lachapelle and soil landscape processes professor Tony Hartshorn. The students are aiming to boost climate literacy, the knowledge people hold about climate change and sustainability on campus. They hope to get MSU students more involved in climate change, education activities, research opportunities and outreach programs.

For example, the university has installed miles worth of steam tunnels, which allow for “the redistribution of excess heat from sources — steam plants that burn natural gas in its boilers, or a sunny side of a building —  to sinks, colder places,” Hartshorn said. Essentially, MSU’s tunnels are connected by heat exchange for efficiency purposes.

But all of it is hidden underground and there’s no signage to indicate the heat tunnels, Hartson said. Too few people know about the climate initiatives MSU is taking part in. “How do we make that the new normal?” he said.

The students aiming to make this the new normal heard about the class mostly via word of mouth and enrolled based on preexisting interest in increasing education regarding the global climate crisis and campus sustainability.

“[Climate change is] potentially an existential threat, it should be on everybody’s radar,” Lachapelle said.

Currently, the students are brainstorming and organizing on-campus events that would engage other students with climate initiatives.

One of these events is Climate Week. Inspired by similar events at Penn State and the University of Minnesota, Climate Week would offer a mixture of hands-on events and lectures, opening students up to ways they can help boost campus sustainability and address the climate crisis at large. Climate Week would also involve professors from every college including climate education in one of their lectures during that week, thus introducing climate literacy to students and faculty alike.

Climate Week would take place either the week of Apr. 13-17 or Apr. 20-24, depending on the availability of keynote speakers and rooms to host the events. The students also want to include input from indigenous communities for these events.

Another idea the students are considering is a Climate Clock in the common areas around campus, student Jackson Mundell said. A Climate Clock would show the uptick in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the amount of time until the planet reaches a temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, the safe temperature threshold designated by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

However, the students have concerns that such an installment would increase stress among their peers regarding the climate crisis, a term deemed “eco-anxiety.” For this reason, the clock would most likely not be permanent. The clock could also include a statistic on how much of MSU’s energy comes from sustainable sources, Mundell said, so the clock isn’t as worrisome.

The students and faculty organizing this initiative alike said having the facts upfront is the only way people will take the global climate crisis seriously.

“We have a legal and ethical obligation to talk about the truth,” said Lachapelle. “The truth can be the catalyst for change.”

As the semester continues, the students hope to improve campus-wide understanding of the climate crisis, and present opportunities for others to get involved in solving such a large issue.

“I want to make people think critically and question everything,” student Nicole Bondurant said.

“I want to acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers to the problems at hand,” student Kayleigh Smith said. “By the end of May, I would hope that students know how climate change is going to affect them in their lifetime.”

For more information on how you can get involved with sustainability on campus, visit https://www.montana.edu/sustainability/.