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What Do Jellybeans and Earth Day Have in Common?

What Do Jellybeans and Earth Day Have in Common?

They have nothing in common except a date on the calendar. April 22 is National Jellybean Day along with Earth Day 2022. Perhaps a better question is, “What do Earth Day and Civics Education have in common?” The simple answer is - a lot.

Every Earth Day, people around the world take the time to reflect on the physical health of the planet. Some organizations champion clean up campaigns, others hold fund raisers, and media outlets fill the airwaves with stories about climate change and what can be done about it. These efforts are admirable for individuals and private groups to pursue. However, to tackle climate change and planet health issues on a larger scale, governments on all levels need to become involved and that requires public policy initiatives. With that, in marches civics.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

But what actions can government take?

Federal Government

Congress is responsible for authorizing laws to address the climate challenge and appropriating funding for relevant programs. The Clean Air Act, for instance, provides the foundation for many existing climate policies. An economy-wide, market-based approach to climate change would require Congress to enact new legislation. Congress also has a key role in oversight of the executive branch and ensuring the administration is implementing existing law. The executive branch implements existing law through regulation and programs. These laws touch the work of nearly every federal agency. For example:

  • The Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to work with states to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane
  • Energy policy laws require the Department of Energy to partner with the private sector to research, develop, and deploy clean energy technologies, and to set energy efficiency standards for appliances and equipment
  • The Department of Transportation is required to set standards that improve the fuel economy of motor vehicles
  • The Department of Defense is required to plan for the global security consequences of climate change
Effective federal policy is needed to achieve deep, long-term reductions in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and to help strengthen climate resilience.

State government can:

  • Establish greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets
  • Help school districts transition their school bus fleets to electric buses
  • Transition state-owned fleet of cars and light-duty trucks from fossil fuel to zero-emission vehicles
  • Provide tax exemptions for community solar projects serving low- or moderate-income customers, lessening pressure on our open space and agricultural land while expanding the benefits of solar to underserved communities
  • Devise zoning regulations that require that future government buildings be less dependent on traditional heating and cooling devices and require that building materials be more eco-friendly

Local government can:

  • Embrace renewable energy sources
  • Divest from fossil fuels
  • Promote energy efficient standards for government buildings
  • Encourage smarter transportation practices such as using public transportation and encouraging car sharing and teleworking
  • Restore natural areas and take other natural adaptation measures such as green roofs

These are just a few of the actions that can be tackled by all levels of government. Some can be accomplished without legislation. However, most fall under the realm of public policy and must be initiated through legislation. Here is where environmental practices and public policy meet. Many school districts have already recognized the need for creating standards that combine environmental and civics curriculum.

For example, here is how Wisconsin incorporated civics into their Standards for Environmental Literacy and Sustainability.

Standard: Students evaluate relationships and structures of natural and cultural systems and analyze their interdependence.

Performance Indicators (by Grade Band)

Cultural Systems EmphasisELS.EX2.C.e

K-2

  • Identify ways in which people are dependent on natural resources and how access to resources can lead to conflict and cooperation
  • Identify rule makers and why rules are made related to the environment

3-5

  • Investigate how Wisconsin’s natural systems have shaped the state’s cultural systems
  • Investigate how access to renewable and nonrenewable natural resources necessary for survival influences human interactions between and within geographic regions
  • Identify the basic role of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government in regard to the environment and sustainability

6-8

  • Analyze the impact of security, resource scarcity, cooperation, competition, and conflict on natural and cultural systems at the local, state, tribal, and national levels
  • Compare and contrast the roles of government at local, state, tribal, national, and international levels in setting and enforcing environmental policies, and encouraging sustainability

9-12

  • Assess the roles of individuals, government, and special interest groups in setting policies at the local, state, tribal, national, and international level; analyze the cultural and environmental dimensions of the policy; and propose a strategy to address concerns related to the policy
  • Design a solution for a natural resource scarcity issue using available resources in a different way or developing a new resource and analyze intended and unintended consequences and sustainability in natural and cultural systems

It is easy to see how important it is for students to have an understanding of the purpose and structure of government on all levels as well as how it functions. Without a working knowledge of civics, students would not be able to successfully meet the requirements of these environmental standards.

What can educators do to link these two disciplines?

  • Curriculum writers can revise current environmental literacy and civics standards to include public policy statements in environmental action statements
  • School systems can ensure that civics curriculum and environmental literacy curriculum intersect
  • Environmental literacy and civics teachers can coordinate unit planning to blend instruction related to these topics
“Every day is Earth Day, and I vote we start investing in a secure climate future right now.”

Celebrating Earth Day is important because it draws attention to an important global issue. However, addressing environmental concerns should be an ongoing initiative and using public policy tools to spur legislative action is just one example of how civics can help.

“Each of us can contribute, though. With our votes, our voices, our food choices, our skills and our dollars. We must overhaul both corporate practices and government policies. We must transform culture. Building community around solutions is the most important thing. I am never going to give up working to protect and restore this magnificent planet. Every bit of habitat we preserve, every tenth of a degree of warming we prevent, really does matter. Thankfully, I'm not motivated by hope, but rather a desire to be useful.”


Preview of a Coming Attraction: Learn about a program that teaches students how to petition the government through a civics project. Stay tuned!