Northern Alberta

The Essential Principles of Climate Literacy presents information that is deemed important for individuals and communities to know and understand about Earth’s climate, impacts of climate change, and approaches to adaptation or mitigation. Principles in the guide can serve as discussion starters or launching points for scientific inquiry. The guide aims to promote greater climate science literacy by providing this educational framework of principles and concepts.

The Alberta Narratives Project Report I and Report II are intended to provide practical guidance for climate and energy communicators about what language works well and – crucially – what language might pose an obstacle for communicating with any specific group.

Report I, Communicating Climate Change and Energy in Alberta is concerned with finding the language that works best across Albertan society by helping to find common ground across very different positions. This generates a core narrative that can be applied for general public engagement. Report II, Communicating Climate Change and Energy with Different Audiences in Alberta offers tailored language that can be the basis of effective communications with each of the following groups: oil sands workers, conservatives, environmentalists, rural Albertans, business leaders, youth, new Canadians and people of faith. A collection of communication tools, including summaries and narrative slides, are also available on the website.

Youth Narrative and Voice: Principles for Effective Climate, Energy and Environmental Education in Alberta was prepared by Alberta-based staff of the non-governmental organization Climate Outreach, on contract to the Alberta Council for Environmental Education, using focus groups to capture youth’s thoughts and feelings. The 33 page report summarizes key findings from workshops with urban and rural Alberta students and teachers, and suggests successful narratives that educators can use to reassure and motivate younger or older students.

Recommendations for engaging young people with climate change campaigns presents recommendations for young climate campaigners and groups who want to broaden the appeal of their campaigns and bring in new young audiences.

Young Voices: how do 18-25 year olds engage with climate change? is the first study to ask young people themselves how to engage their peers more effectively, and to propose and test new climate change narratives specifically designed to engage 18-25 year olds.

Stanford's analysis suggests EE provides a wide array of benefits for K-12 students—and environmental knowledge is just the tip of the iceberg - experts at Stanford University systematically searched the academic literature and identified 119 peer-reviewed studies published over a 20-year period that measured the impacts of environmental education for K-12 students. The review found clear evidence that environmental education programs provide a variety of benefits.

Community Climate Change Education: A Mosaic of Approaches features information and resources on over a dozen approaches to community climate change education, from public art, resilience gardening, and climate justice, to social innovation, marine science, and youth programming.

Backgrounder on Youth Engagement by the the Alberta Emerald Foundation (AEF) and What we Heard from the province-wide consultations conducted by ACEE, on contract to AEF.

Green Street Guide to Authentic Youth Engagement outlines some of the best ways to encourage authentic youth participation within organizations and includes practical advice and real-life examples.

Pathway to Stewardship is a framework providing a guide and roadmap towards stewardship. It covers every stage of a child's development using a series of benchmarks or goals. It is grounded in extensive research and interviews with 75 community leaders. Pathway to Stewardship is a call to action for everyone who plans for or spends time with children - parents, teachers, relatives, community groups, health professionals and government agencies.