Curricula of the Future

By Dylan Lewis and Srimayi Tenali

Education

The current complex evolution of air pollutants and their undeniable hazard to both humanity and the environment create the imperative need for an environmentally literate population and large-scale global change. While 86% of Americans said that global warming posed a serious environmental problem, only 18% agreed that coal, natural gas, and oil contributed to the issue.¹ This reveals the jarring lack of understanding among the general public, and thus education is essential to improve global air quality.

In order to specifically address areas with various socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, it is necessary to develop two curricula that will educate populations from developed and developing countries on air pollution, including what it is, how it affects their lives, and what can be done to ameliorate the effects of air pollution on an individual level. In developing countries, the curriculum will focus on indoor air pollution, since a large portion of pollution stems from indoor cooking with fuels such as charcoal and wood, which produce smoke and soot. It will primarily discuss alternatives fuels for cooking and the benefits that this potential switch can have on their economy and health. In developed countries, the curriculum will focus on outdoor air pollution caused by industry, transportation, and the benefits that switching over to more sustainable tech will have. Though we are making this distinction in developing the curricula, many countries will need to adopt elements from both curricula in order to best meet their specific issues.

Developed countries’ role in air pollution

In developed countries, major components of the curriculum must include information on car emissions, sustainable and locally grown products, and the importance of energy efficient appliances and homes, since these are the primary contributors of carbon pollution and particulate matter. If the general public is more aware about the sources of pollution, and how they individually contribute towards air quality, they will be equipped with the information necessary to make educated decisions.¹ In the United States, the transportation sector is the single-largest contributor to greenhouse
 gas emissions that can be addressed by the public (Figure 1),² and thereby efforts to educate the public about this should take priority.

Figure 1. Source: https://www.epa.gov

Several efforts have recently been initiated to mitigate these emissions, including improving public transportation, which vastly reduces the number of cars and trucks on the road. However, without an element of education, several of these initiatives fall short of their intended goal. Contrarily, North Carolina has seen success with its 2009 law banning one-time-use plastic bottles from landfills, and thereby forcing individuals to learn about and adopt alternative disposal methods. In order to maximize public participation, the state government partnered with the local governments to launch “mass media, including web sites, mailings, commercials, and advertisements” to surround the general population with recycling information.³ They have subsequently had a rise in recycling and practically eliminated an entire genre of waste from the landfill.⁴ North Carolina’s success demonstrates that mere reinforcement is an insufficient method for sparking change, but when coupled with education, can result in the public attitude transition that could ameliorate air pollution.

Educating populations in developed countries

It is thus apparent that education is critical in order to achieve a change.  Informed consumers can make ideal choices, such as choosing locally grown and manufactured products in order to minimize cross-country freight services, purchasing energy-efficient appliances, or buying fuel-efficient cars. Educating the population in a developed country can best be approached by reorienting current educational systems to include an element on air quality.⁵ This can be done in elementary and middle school curricula or can target adults, such as through professional or vocational training. Campaigns targeting the youth are typically regarded as most effective,¹ and are essential, since youth are the decision-makers of tomorrow. The key information outlined above must be included in any such curricula so that individuals are enabled to make educated decisions.

Additionally, the media plays a vital role in widely spreading information that otherwise may not reach the masses. Through methods ranging from television advertisements to celebrity campaigns, media maximizes the number of people who can be reached.⁵ Modified current education systems can be implemented relatively quickly. However, since this method fundamentally relies on an attitude shift, there will be an inevitable time-lag between the start of publicizing information and any real air quality change. The cost of such educational campaigns will vary depending on the means chosen to approach them and a host of other facets,⁵ but the issue is of such importance that it is worth it. Furthermore, armed with donations, the aid of non-governmental organizations, and pro-bono minded celebrities, media campaigns can often pay for themselves. As individuals in developed countries have the potential to contribute immensely to reducing air pollution, they must be educated enough to make better decisions, so there is no other choice but to invest in education. An educated citizen body will be one of the strongest tools in the effort towards clean air.

Educating populations in developing countries

In developing countries, the curriculum will include information on indoor smoke, accessibility to clean fuel, and cheaper, more efficient technology. We hope to educate communities that are reliant on biomass, wood, or other carcinogen-containing cooking fuels on the alternative fuel sources that they can use instead, such as plant oils, kerosene, or ethanol gel. These fuels are more expensive than what is traditionally used, but with sufficient government subsidies, these fuels could be made accessible to the general public.⁶  One goal of our curriculum implementation is to empower people to organize to ask that their government provide them with safer fuels at a reduced cost to ensure the protection of their health and the sustainability of their lifestyles.

The solutions to inhibiting implementation factors

The main inhibiting factor to people of developing nations switching over to cleaner fuels will be high costs. The primary solution to overcoming this obstacle is having governments provide subsidies on these fuels. The funds for these subsidies should come from the government itself, but if a government cannot provide these funds, a possible source is the UN Green Climate Fund, which is accessible to developing nations.⁷ In our curriculum for the developing world, we would like to stress the importance of social media to rally widespread support to cause governments to prioritize protecting its citizens from the health hazards of using traditional cooking fuels. These subsidies need to cover almost all of the cost increase associated with these cleaner fuels to be sufficient.⁶ The costs associated with specific cleaner fuels is shown in Table 15.3 below.

Table 1. Source: https://www.iea.org

We would also like to introduce modern, cheap, efficient technology for cooking that is available. This includes the parabolic solar cooker and wood-burning “rocket stove.” A parabolic solar cooker utilizes a flat or curved surface that has reflective properties. These cookers concentrate sunlight in a particular area and any food product in that area will cook. The cost of utilizing and constructing this device is close to zero as compared to traditional cooking methods.⁸  The wood-burning “rocket stove” is a more efficient cooking device as it is cheap to produce and uses less fuel for cooking than traditional cooking practices and emits less carcinogenic exhaust.⁸ The diagram of a function wood-burning “rocket stove” is shown below.

Figure 2. Diagram of a wood-burning “rocket stove.” Source: http://onecommunityranch.org.

Benefits of cleaner cooking technology

These technologies will benefit public health as well as national economies. Although funds may be the biggest issue when it comes to implementing cleaner fuels and cooking devices to the public, it is important that governments become aware of the associated economic benefits that come with this implementation. With less time spent searching for cooking fuels and being treated for carcinogen-associated illness, this leaves citizens more time to be productive in other ways that can contribute to the overall economy of a country.⁶

Conclusion

Educating the community and public at large ensures that people are aware of the individual  responsibility of caring for the environment, particularly the air. The method of implementing this curriculum will vary depending on the education system, literacy, and economic situations of each country. Through government-led initiatives, public-inspiring media, and integration of environmental issues into traditional school curriculum, we hope to spark a global change.