Building Place-Based Climate Change Education through the Lens of National Parks and Wildlife Refuges: Summary Report
Place-based Climate Change Eduction Partnership. 2012. Building Place-Based Climate Change Education through the Lens of National Parks and Wildlife Refuges: Summary Report. Place-based Climate Change Education Partnership. Fort Collins, Colorado
To help parks and refuges discover methods for how to more effecitvely communicate about climate change, the National Science Foundation funded the Place-based Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP), a research project involving NPS, FWS, Colorado State University, and the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA). Research from this partnership spanned five regional Communities of Practice from Alaskato Florida, and brought together staff from both agencies (as well as representatives from nonprofits, universities, local governments, and other parties involved in climate change) for brainstorming sessions on effective communication strategies aimed specifically at transcending the boundaries of any individual park or refuge. These efforts included suveying agency staff nationwide and surveying visitors at the 16 parks and refuges in the five pilot locations to learn their assumptions, attitude, and beliefs about climate change. ... Surveys revealed that visitors to both parks and refuges are equally concerned about climate change, interested in learning about its impact on the places they cherish, and motivated to make changes that could help protect those places. Opinions differ on the causes of climate change--most visitors suspect that human activity is party to soley responsible--but the majority are convinced it's happening. Furthermore, most visitors are willing to take action and lend their effort toward solutions to climate change threats. ... This research revealed several valuable approaches that could help agencies share messages about climate change with key audiences. It is important to reach out to younger visitors, since kids and teens can become influential educators in their own right. Agencies should prioitize staff education, so representatives can confidently broach climate change topics with visitors. Parks and refuges must also "walk the talk" be employing sustainable practices and by using those effrorts as educational examples for visitors.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Place-based Climate Change Eduction Partnership
- Date of Issue
- 2012
- Publisher
- Place-based Climate Change Education Partnership
- Units
- OLYM
- Keywords
- citizen survey, Climate Change, Education, interpretation, Olympic National Park, place-based communication, PWR-toolkit