In January 1970, President Richard Nixon signed the National Environmental Education Act, which framed the issue of environmental protection not only as a matter of regulation, but also of education. A year later, in his 1971 environmental message to Congress, Nixon emphasized that building a better environment would require “a citizenry that is both deeply concerned and fully informed.”
Half a century later, as we near the fifty-sixth anniversary of the first Earth Day, that lesson may be more urgent than ever.
Throughout modern history, education has been an economic strategy. Industrialists at the turn of the nineteenth century demanded mandatory education. They needed a generation of workers who could read and write. They needed managers who helped them innovate. They wanted to compete. The same was true of the space and computer revolutions.
Today we have different challenges, like climate change, which call for a restructuring of the global economy. The industries that will dominate the twenty-first century will depend on advances in renewable power, grid modernization, battery manufacturing, resilient infrastructure, climate-smart agriculture, and clean transportation. And a new generation of problem solvers.
According to the World Bank report “Choosing Our Future: Education for Climate Action,” education is one of the most powerful levers for climate resilience and economic growth. It finds that better-educated populations are more adaptable to climate shocks, more innovative in mitigation solutions and better positioned to access emerging green jobs. Climate-informed education increases productivity, strengthens adaptive capacity, and builds the workforce necessary for low-carbon industries.
Separate World Bank research on climate and employment projects that climate-aligned investments could generate tens of millions of net new jobs globally by 2050 and beyond, in renewable energy, sustainable construction, ecosystem restoration, and climate services.
Climate education isn’t ideological, and it isn’t just about teaching the science of climate change, either. It is about workforce development and competitive advantage.
When Nixon spoke of an informed citizenry, he wasn’t just talking about civic responsibility. He was talking about economic development. Today, that same idea translates directly into economic resilience. Students who understand climate science, clean technology, and sustainability principles are more likely to become engineers, entrepreneurs, financiers, and innovators in industries that are rapidly expanding. And teaching it in all subjects from art to language arts to social studies will help create a new generation of critical thinkers and doers.
Countries that embed climate literacy into education systems, including the more than 150 countries which have done so in their Nationally Determined Commitments under the Climate Agreement, are preparing students not only to survive climate disruption, but to profit from solving it.
Nations that resist climate education, whether out of political ideology or short-term industrial loyalty, risk producing a workforce unprepared for where capital and innovation are heading.
This is a stunning and avoidable strategic error with a major national security dimension. Climate instability fuels migration pressures, resource conflicts, infrastructure stress, and supply chain disruption. It debilitates developing countries which have been bypassed by every economic revolution since the 1700s.
Military planners increasingly describe climate change as a “threat multiplier.” An economy that leads in resilient infrastructure, clean energy, and advanced environmental technology strengthens both domestic stability and geopolitical leverage.
In the post-Earth Day 1970 years, Nixon recognized that environmental stewardship required knowledge. He understood that regulation alone was insufficient without a generation prepared to understand, solve, and innovate around environmental challenges.
Environmental literacy is not a cultural debate. It is infrastructure for the mind. It builds entrepreneurs who can design next-generation batteries. It trains architects to construct flood-resilient cities. It equips data scientists to optimize energy grids. It inspires innovators who will capture global markets in clean technology. It created a new generation of problem solvers who can turn their angst and anxiety into optimism and careers.
If the 1970s were “literally now or never” for confronting visible pollution, then the 2020s are now or never for preparing a workforce capable of leading the green economy and solving the crises—before it overwhelms us. Climate education means a more resilient, employable, competent, healthier, and more prosperous America.
This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.